Christmas Treats!

I'm back to blogging now and so excited to share new things! I know I skipped blogging about Thanksgiving and that's why I wanted to be here for Christmas. My main Thanksgiving dessert was the one and only pumpkin cheesecake which I enjoy baking every year. For Christmas, I love to have a variety of treats...from cookies to bars to homemade quick breads and cheesecake (of course). Here are some of my favorite ones for this year and from years past:

 

Here are some recipes too!

1. Maple glazed gingerbread marshmellow treats
2. Starbucks (copy cat) Cranberry Bliss bars
3. Choco Hazlenut Latte cookies
4. Glazed Eggnog bread
5. Gingerbread Cheesecake
6. Cinnmon rolls  (Homemade every year on Christmas morning!)

Fall Baking Heaven

1. Apple cider bread
2. Cheesecake topped brownies with pumpkin butter swirl
3. Autumn cheesecake
4. Pumpkin cream cheese muffins
5. Iced cinnamon pecan biscotti
6. Maple oat nut scones

Small Sweets are Good!

Mini desserts are my favorite! Sometimes all you need is just a few bites of something sweet. I've noticed many restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops have mini desserts and dessert shots available! But you can even make these yourself. The good thing is that you can top each one differently. The best thing anout them is that you can indulge without feeling like you've eaten an entire cake!

Mini Cheesecakes


Mini Brownies

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Mini  Pies
Pumpkin
Cherry
http://www.bakerella.com/

Mini Cupcakes

Strawberry

Mini Cookies

 Black and white cookies

Recipe: Here

Surprise dessert!!!

Introducing my newest attempt at a cheesecake recipe: Peanut butter BROWNIE cheesecake! The name and picture caught my eye (and taste buds) right away and I knew, I must make this incredible dessert. Well, and also it was my brother in law's surprise birthday party and he loves chocolate and peanut butter and cheesecake. But seriously, how could all this be in one dessert? Yes it is possible. Here's how...

Peanut butter cookie dough
1 package of brownie mix
4 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 Tbl vanilla exract
1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven 325 for brownies. Bake as directed and let cool. Preheat oven to 350 for cheesecake. Press cookie dough on bottom of a springform pan. In a large bowl mix softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add milk and eggs one at a time, just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour. Pour cheesecake batter onto cookie crust. Drop brownie chunks in batter. Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hour. Let cool in oven to prevent cracking. Chill in refrigerator then decorate to your liking!

Tips and other ideas:
Bake in water bath to prevent cracking and to evenly cook
Grease side of springform pan for easy removal
Add semi sweet chocolate chips to cookie dough and to batter
Decorate with Reese's peanut butter cups and chocolate ganache or chocolate sauce

Enjoyyyyyy