Sugar-Free Strawberry Cheesecake

For Easter, I was asked to bring a sugar-free dessert that we could enjoy with our Grandma who is diabetic. I have made a few sugar-free recipes over the years and they don't always turn out great. This one was fantastic!! It was sweet but not too sweet. It was creamy and light. Perfect to enjoy after a heavy meal or on a summer day!


Recipe found on Allrecipes.com and adapted 
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups of sugar-free cookies, crushed (I used shortbread)
6 Tbls butter, melted
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1-8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups milk
1-1 oz package of sugar-free cheesecake flavored Jello pudding mix 
2 pints of strawberries, sliced


Directions:
To crush cookies, place them in a gallon sized ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin or place cookies in a blender. Mix cookies, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Press cookie mixture into the bottom of a pie pan with a spatula and place in the refrigerator to cool while making the filling. 


Beat cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl until soft. Add in milk slowly and beat until combine. The texture will be very watery. Add in pudding mix and beat for 2-1/2 minutes. Mixture will become thick but not firm. 


Place half of the mixture on top of the graham crust. Layer the sliced strawberries on top of the cheesecake. Finish with the rest of the cheesecake mixture. 


Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight. 


Notes:
I was able to find sugar-free cheescake Jello pudding mix, however I noticed that it is not at all stores. I think vanilla would work just as well. 
Also, sugar-free cookies are sometimes hard to find so use what you can find. If a little sugar is okay than use vanilla wafers. 


Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

1 package plain yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 eggs

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) Mix cake mix, melted butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl. Using a spatula press half the cake mixture into a 9X13 pan. Set the other half aside to crumble on the top.

3) Place chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter in a small bowl and melt in the microwave. Heat the mixture for 1 minute at a time, stirring between intervals until the chocolate chips are completely melted. Once melted, add in vanilla.

4) Next, layer the chocolate mixture over the cake layer and crumble the remaining cake mix on top of the chocolate mixture.

5) Bake for 20-25 minutes. For best results, cool completely before cutting into bars and serving.

These bars are super rich so a little goes a long way! 

Christmas Crunch

I have been a bad, bad blogger!! It's been over a month since my last post. The past month has flown by quickly. My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary and we got the keys to our first home. I didn't want to end up on the naughty list this year so I have been busy whipping up some treats for Santa over the weekend.  

I was looking for a holiday Chex mix recipe and came across a picture from Utah Deal Diva's blog. I love a recipe that only has 3 ingredients!! I was going to purchase candy canes and crush them in the blender but I came across a bag of crushed candy canes at Walgreens! Score!!

Ingredients:

6 cups - corn Chex

12 oz - white chocolate bark

1/3 cup - crushed candy canes

Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Follow the directions on the package to melt the white chocolate bark in a large bowl. Add Chex cereal to the bowl and coat evenly. Spread cereal out onto the cookie sheet and sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the top. 

It takes about 20 minutes for the chocolate to set. Break up cereal and store in a airtight container. 


This is a super fast and easy treat to throw together for a last minute gift for a friend or neighbor. 


Enjoy!!

Halloween Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Fall is in the air and Halloween is right around the corner!! We finally got some cool weather in our area and I had the overwhelming urge to break out the PUMPKIN! 


This recipe was really easy to throw together and would be a fun family recipe.


This recipe is from Laren's Latest with only a few changes


Tools Needed:
Muffin pan
Cupcake liners
Mixer
Sandwich bag
Toothpick


Ingredients:
1-8 oz. package cream cheese, softened (reduced fat cream cheese can be used)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
pinch of salt
12 Halloween Oreos
1/4 cup chocolate chips 


Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees


Line 12 muffin tins with cupcake liners. Place 1 oreo in the bottom of each cup. Set aside. 


In large bowl, whip cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Stir in vanilla, pumpkin, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and salt until combined. Scrape sides of bowl and whip mixture until completely smooth. 


Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the mixture over oreos. Bake 25-30 minutes or until cheesecakes have set. Remove from oven to cool. Once cheesecakes are cool enough to handle, remove from muffin tin. Remove paper wrappers. 

Microwave chocolate chips in a sandwich bag in 10-20 second increments until completely melted. Once melted cut the tip off the corner of the bag and pipe melted chocolate in 3 circles on top of cheesecakes. Drag the end of a toothpick through the chocolate to create a spiders web look. Repeat with remaining cheesecakes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Happy Fall!!