My daughter Krick makes the yummiest Cheesecakes! Raspberries are soon in season around here so I am sure we will see this one showing up at a Sunday Dinner in the very near future.

Crust:
1/2 cup Butter
2 cups Graham Wafer Crumbs
1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed

Filling:
2 – 3 oz (85g) Raspberry Jello
1 cup boiling Water
15 oz frozen Raspberries, partially thawed

2 – 8 oz packages Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup Icing Sugar

1 cup Whipped Cream

Crust: Melt butter in saucepan.
Stir in crumbs and sugar.
Pack into an ungreased 9X13  pan. ( Krick and I use a square springform pan)
Bake in 350F degree oven for 10 minutes or you can use it without baking.

Filling: Dissolve Jello in water.
Stir in berries.
Chill until syrupy.
Beat softened cream cheese and icing sugar together until blended.
Fold in whipped cream.
Fold in thickened jello.
Pour over crust and chill at least 4 hours.
Sprinkle with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Serves 15

This recipe come from Jean Pare’s Company’s Coming _Desserts_ page 33.

The original recipe calls for 2 packages of whipped topping mix. I prefer to use real whipped cream.

I got lost in Food Heaven late last week! I clicked on a few pics on Pinterest, followed them to their pages and poked around at other pics that interested me. During my little adventure I came across a recipe for Chocolate Chia Pudding which I was pretty keen to try out since I currently only use Chia Seeds in my daily morning Green Smoothies.

You know how it is when you start out following a recipe and soon have come up with your own unique creation? First of all, I had half a cup of left over coffee sitting in a thermos…I know, I know! How is that even possible? I subbed the coffee in for a portion of the milk and then I was thinking, Caramel Macchiato so I added some Caramel Sauce.  I had some leftover whipped cream handy so I folded that in after the Chia Seeds had “set”. I don’t think it needed the whipped cream, again, I just happened to have it on hand; I certainly would not have whipped up some cream just for this recipe.

The recipe I started following said it was a single serve so I doubled it…wrong…my husband and I both had a generous serving and there are probably still four servings left! Which is all good because I am really liking this pudding! Reminds me of Tapioca, which I LOVE but hate to make.

1 cup unsweetened Almond, Soy or Coconut Milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/2 cup Cold Coffee
2 Tablespoons Caramel Topping
3 Tablespoons Chia Seeds
1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

In a  small measuring cup whisk together cocoa with about 1 Tablespoon of milk.
Combine milk, coffee, caramel topping, cinnamon, chia seeds, and maple syrup in a glass container with a fitted lid.
Add cocoa mixture and whisk everything together until well incorporated.
Refrigerate for at least four hours, stirring once an hour to keep the seeds from clumping.

Enjoy!

Notes:
– I made mine in a small pyrex dish with a lid.
– I did not stir it every hour, quite frankly I just left it for two days!
– I folded whipped cream the pudding before serving it; it didn’t need it.
– I will add another Tablespoon of Chia seeds next time.

A delectable sounding recipe for an Apple Pear Crumb cake arrived in my inbox today and I was pretty stoked to make it. Too bad my dinner plans went sour and it ended up being just myself, my husband and my son at the dinner table. With Christmas is just barely behind us along with all the junk food, Christmas baking and litre upon litre of Eggnog I wasn’t baking up something just for the three of us.

As it turns out, I still had a dozen baked tart shells that needed filling. Let’s see, I also had half a container of Cool Whip topping leftover from when I made Sex in a Pan. Half a thing of Cream Cheese. Just made a big batch of Applesauce….Surely there had to be something I could do with those ingredients? Voila, Mini Apple Cheesecakes!

* When I make Applesauce it is simply apples, a bit of water to get them going and cinnamon. Oh, and sometimes I add a splash of vanilla if I remember  to add it!

There is no taste like home! The smell of Pineapple Upside Down Cake followed by the sight and taste of it is like a trip down memory lane! Not that we had it often when I was growing up, but what a special treat!

1 (420g) can Sliced Pineapple, drained, reserving the juice
1/4 cup Butter, melted
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
Maraschino Cherries (optional)

2 3/4 cups Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Butter
1 1/2 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

1 1/3 cup Juice (from reserved juice and enough water added to measure 1 1/3 cup)

Lightly spray a 9x13inch pan with Vegetable Oil Spray.
Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
Drain Pineapple, reserving liquid.

Pour melted butter into prepared pan; sprinkle with brown sugar.
Arrange pineapple slices over butter/brown sugar mixture.
Place a cherry in the center of each ring.

In small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla and beat for one minute.
Add flour alternately with pineapple juice, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
Evenly spread batter over pineapple rings.
Bake in 350F (175C) oven for 40 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes, the turn out.

Serve warm with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream or a dollop of Whipped Cream.

Variation:
Fruit Cocktail Upside Down Cake: Substitute a can of Fruit Cocktail for the Pineapple. Add 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract with the Vanilla.

Cheesecakes take a little extra work to make but are so worth the effort. This version of cheesecake is inspired by one I found in a Canadian Living magazine.

Crust
1 1/2 cups Cookie Crumbs; Chocolate, Arrowroot, Gingersnaps, Vanilla
1/4 cup sugar, give or take, depending on what kind of cookie crumbs you use
2 Tbsp Honey if using Arrowroot, Vanilla or Gingersnap cookie crumbs
1/4 cup Butter, melted

Cheesecake
2 (250g) pkgs cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 cups Sour Cream

Topping of your choice: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Cherry, Apple Crumble

Crust:
Preheat oven to 325F.
In small mixing bowl, combine cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter.
Press into 9″ Springform pan.
Place springform pan onto a large square of foil; press foil up sides of pan, rendering springform pan watertight.
Bake in 325F oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
Cool.

Cheesecake:
In large mixing bowl, on low speed, beat cream cheese just until no lumps remain.
Gradually add sugar.
Add eggs, one at a time.
Gradually beat in lemon juice, vanilla, salt and sour cream; beat on low speed for a few minutes.
Pour into prepared crust.

Set foil covered springform pan in a larger pan
Pour in enough hot water to come 1″ up the side of the springfrom pan.
Bake in the centre of a 325F oven and bake for 60 minutes or until no longer shiny and edge is set. The middle may appear to still be a bit jiggly.
Run knife around edge of cheesecake.
Cool cheesecake for an hour in turned off oven, with door ajar.
Remove cheesecake from bain marie and cool completely on wire rack.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To serve, remove side of pan, top with fruit topping of your choice and a dollop of whipped cream.