Cheese Cake Bars

 Okay you need to make these now!! Wait, read this first, because I am super witty, but then, go make these!  I made these out of desperation last minute and I can tell you right now, I have made them again already.  These were a last minute treat for my hot Friday night date.  Which is to say, I stayed home with Pork Chop and my friend and her baby came over.  You would have thought Santa was coming the way Pork Chop was acting.  He loves his little cousin so much.  He is always "she is so cute!" "She is my favorite baby ever!"  And when I asked him the night before who was coming he said "Hannah, the cutest baby ever!"  I love how much he loves her.

This is pretty much all you need, but I forgot to picture the vanilla bean paste and the cinnamon.  Just try to pretend it's there.

Anyway, my friend was coming over and we were going to order pizza and let the kids play.  And by play we mean, Pork Chop would totally just stare at Hannah.  He did get to hold her and she was all up in his face.  Literally, poking him in the eye, and pinching his cheeks and what not.  With her little chubby baby fingers you could not say no.  And Pork Chop was not going to stop her, he was in heaven!  Makes me feel bad for not having a brother or sister for him, but then I think about the 9 months I couldn't eat hardly anything and I totally get over it.

 So this was the fastest desert ever.  I looked on pintrest for something easy and quick.  And this is what I found.  It was called a cream cheese square, which is kind of gross.  So I renamed it a cheesecake bar, because that sounds classy.

Here is the link I found.  Basically you need just a few things and it was magic!   I was worried that it would be weird as there were no eggs, and I figured the cheese part would be runny and gross.  I was wrong, but don't tell anyone.

See when I opened the tube I was trying to keep the dough together, the cut lines kept falling apart. If I go to the states I am going to get a whole bunch of the sheets and freeze them and never share.

Cheese Cake Bars
found on Piarecipes

-2 tubes of 8 count crescent rolls
-2 blocks of cream cheese
-1 TBSP vanilla ( I used vanilla bean paste, because I am fancy like that)
-1 cup sugar
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 TBSP cinnamon
-1/2 cup butter (the recipe said margarine but we don't have that so I used butter.)

The filling was thick but easy to spread, sort of.

So this is great, you pre heat your oven to 350.  Spray a 9x13 cake pan with cooking spray.  Roll out and press a tube of rolls into the bottom of the pan, try to get the seams together.  I hear in the states they have the rolls in a tube but it's a sheet you cut yourself.  I need those.

Cream the two blocks of cream cheese, add the vanilla and the 1 cup of sugar.  It will be firm, but spreadable.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough.  Be careful to make it even and not smoosh the dough.  Then roll out the other tube of rolls and lay on top.  Do not press it down or you will make a huge mess, just do your best.

Melt the butter and pour it over the top of the bars, then mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle that on.  I sort of globbed it on by mistake, but it was all good.

See how blobby my sugar mixture is?  Well it worked out.

 So then you bake it until the top has become crispy and the butter is no longer really there.  It takes my oven around 18-20 minutes.  Remove and cool.  I then place it in the fridge to help the cream cheese set up, it is very soft when you serve it at room temperature.

See how perfect the top was, even though I made a mess.  It smelled so good, Hubby came in the house and was all "what are you making!" as he ran to the kitchen.  You could see his heart drop when I said cheese cake, poor man, he was hoping for something he would eat.  But it did smell amazing.

So I cut it up and we ate it, and then I got a tummy ache.  So I sent half of it home with my friend.  Pork Chop wouldn't even look at it, but what else is new.  Hannah who isn't even a year old yet was trying to get at the plate, but her mom gave her nibbles of baby cookies.  Which is sort of cruel, but she is too young to know yet.

I really didn't think there was enough filling but it turned out to be the perfect amount.  So good! And so easy to cut, I thought it was going to smoosh.

I think this is the best treat I have made in a while, it was so good, and it lasted well in the fridge.  I can see making this again and again.

Snicker Doodle Muffins

From this angle they look like cookies.

  Today I am going to share with you guys one of Hubby's favorite things I make. And by favorite, I mean he actually eats them.  The first time I made these muffins he ate almost all of them, then I think I made them for him almost every week or so until he had to tell me to stop.  I mean come on, if he is actually eating something I make how can I not get excited right?  Well I have not made these in a long while, and I was looking for something quick to make to blog about and this is when I had the brilliant idea to make them again.


  I first saw these on the Pioneer Woman blog.  I knew the moment I saw them Hubby would love them, I mean I say that about a few things, but this one, this was different.  Or at least I hoped it would be.  And for once I was right, but don't let him know that.

  So this is a nice easy recipe that gives you a nice moist dense muffin, covered in a layer of cinnamon sugar. What is not to love right?  So I have not made any changes, other than I don't buy butter milk, and make my own, it is all the same.

  To make your own butter milk you just put some vinegar in with your milk and let it set for about 5 minutes.  I will let you know the amount in the recipe.

All ready to go.

 Snicker Doodle Muffins
Via Pioneer Woman Cooks
By Two Peas in Their Pod
Originally from Culinary Concoctions from Peabody

(wow that is a lot of recipe info)

-1 cup butter
-1 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-2 TSP vanilla extract
-2 1/4 cups flour
-3/4 TSP baking soda
-3/4 TSP baking powder
-3/4 TSP cream of tartar
-1/2 TSP salt
-1 cup sour cream
-1/4 cup butter milk*

*instead of real butter milk just put a splash of white vinegar into a measuring cup then fill the rest of the way to 1/4 cup with milk, stir and let stand for 5 minutes.  If you leave it a bit longer and the milk gets chunky, don't worry it is still fine.  I let mine sit for over 10 minutes and it still turned out fine.

  Pre heat oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the vanilla and one egg at a time and mix fully.  Sift all the dry ingredients together and add half to the mix, then add the sour cream, mix, then the rest of the dry ingredients.  Then mix in the butter milk.

As the first batch was baking I rolled the second batch and put them in liners to wait.

Topping

-2/3 cups sugar
-2 TBSP Cinnamon

  Mix the topping and then take a scoop of muffin mix and roll it in topping.  Then place muffin in muffin liner.  These are very soft muffins so you need a liner.  Once all the muffins are rolled top them all with the left over topping and bake for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick put into the middle comes out clean.

So good!  I could eat these everyday!

  These are some of the tastiest muffins, so good, even a day or so later, if they last.  The batter is nice and thick, so once you scoop it out into the bowl of topping it is easy to handle.  Hubby ate a whole bunch and is a little upset they are running out.  But I will make them again, I promise.

I'm Linking up Here


 

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Scones

                       Hi all, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a super cute cupcake charm! here

Yum on a plate!

  Have you ever heard that you should not always believe what you read on the Internet?  Well you shouldn't.  Unless it has to do with food, and how good something is.  Like when I read about Panera on a blog.  The blogger said it was amazing and that everyone should try it.  Well at the time we did not have that place here in Canada.  Then one day we did.  So I remembered and tried it.

  I have to tell you right now, the Internet was right, this place is awesome!!!  I tried a few things, and since I cannot eat bread, I got a scone.  A cinnamon scone.  It was love at first bite.  And I may have cried a little inside when I realized I had only bought one.  

See how modern I am?  I use the "Internet" I know, I'm also a dork.

  Then I saw a recipe on Pioneer woman.  It was fate I tell you!  She had a recipe for cinnamon scones, and I was sold.  And it only took me like a year to finally try them out.  I am so sorry I waited so long, my pants aren't, but I am.

  So I made them thinking I would take them to work and share.  Then I ate one, and promptly hoarded them and decided to tell people at work I had not baked at all.  They are none the wiser I think.  Unless they took note of the tight pants I am wearing now.  

  So this was really easy, a little scary since I have not made scones before, but you know, it all worked out.

I used cold butter, the recipe did not specify, and I know you use cold butter for pie crust.  It seemed to work.

I got this pastry thingy, a pastry cutter I think, in college.  Because when you are in culinary school you have every excuse to buy whatever kitchen gadget you want.  Even if you only use them once.  But see I kept mine, I knew it would come in handy!

Cinnamon Scones

From Pioneer Woman

Pre heat oven to 350

-3 cups all purpose flour

-1/3 cup sugar

-5 TSPs baking powder

-1/2 TSP cinnamon

-1 cup unsalted butter

-3/4 cups heavy cream

-1 egg

-1 TSP vanilla

-1 cup cinnamon chips ( I used the mini ones)

Topping

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 TSP cinnamon

1 1/2 TSPs heavy cream

In a large bowl sift all dry ingredients together.  Cut up your butter, I used cold because I was not sure what to do.  Then use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry stuff, until it is all crumbly.  Add your cinnamon chips.

This is after the butter is cut in, I forgot to take a picture without the cinnamon chips.

  Using a fork, mix all your wet ingredients together then mix into the dry with the fork.  Do not over work, just mix until it all comes together.

Right about here I panicked, how is that little bit of wet stuff going to bring this all together?

Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface, or parchment like I did, and mix it together a bit to get all the dry bits to come together.  

Shape the dough however you want, a circle, a square, whatever.  And pat it flat.  

See it worked!  I had to sort of mush it together on the table a bit as there was a few really dry patches.

OMG!

Mix the topping and spread it over the top of the scones and pat it down.

Cut your scones with a knife or pizza cutter to the shape and size you want.

I wanted to make them small, so I could control my portions.  Yeah it was worth a shot, I just ate like 3 instead of one.

Don't even try to pick them up, use a cookie spatula or something, just to save yourself the frustration.

Use a spatula to transfer the scones to a lined baking sheet and bake for about 14 minutes.  

I figured they were done when I pushed on the sides and they were not soft.

See, all done, and they could be considered healthy, they are a breakfast item after all. I can try right?

  People, these are so good, they are sweet like a muffin but have the heaviness of a scone.  I cannot eat bread because of how doughy it gets when you eat it, so this is perfect for me.  I made them really tiny so I can eat a few, and like I said I had planned to share them.  Plans do not always work out people, trust me.  And that is something you can believe on the Internet!