Peppermint Cheesecake Ball

 I have been dreaming of PEPPERMINT!

Ever since the weather turned cold and Christmas 

music started playing throughout the house,

that is all I can think of.  I am craving peppermint.

I just can't get enough, and this simple dessert would

be perfect for snacking on while watching Christmas Movies -

which I have been doing while I have been wrapping presents.

We have to get everything done early as we leave for Paris

and Germany soon and won't be home until right before

Christmas.  

This fabulous cheesecake ball is something I could just eat

and eat and eat.  It is so simple - just stir together some

ingredients, let chill, roll in peppermint candy and chocolate

and you are ready to dip in.

I can just see this one going to Christmas parties!

Peppermint Cheesecake Ball

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 C. butter, room temperature

1 C. powdered sugar

1/3 C. crushed candy canes, or peppermint candies

10 drops Creme de Menthe or Peppermint oil

Pink gel food coloring

Coating:

1/2 C. crushed candy canes, or peppermint candies

2 tsp. Chocolate Jimmies

In mixing bowl mix the cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar

with the batter attachment.  Stir in the crushed candy canes, flavoring

and pink food coloring.  Test and adjust the flavoring as needed.  I prefer

to use Creme de Menthe flavoring as it has a softer mint flavor and

doesn't end up tasting like medicine.  If you have a problem finding it,

here is a link to order it.

Line a small bowl with plastic wrap and spoon the batter

into the bowl.  Cover and refrigerate until firm.  If you are in a hurry

you could place it in the freezer for 30 minutes.  

Remove the firm cheesecake batter from fridge.  Lightly flour your hands,

and shape into a ball.  Place the crushed candy cakes and chocolate

jimmies on a small plate and roll the cheesecake ball in the coating.

Press in as needed.

Cover with plastic wrap and return to fridge until ready to

serve.  Serve with assorted cookies.

It was perfect on chocolate wafers, but you 

can't beat the holiday Chessman cookies.

This is so simple and everyone loves it!  It is a fun, light dessert

for Christmas.

Make up a Peppermint Cheesecake Ball and

sit down to a Christmas movie!

(I cried from the start to the end of 

It's A Wonderful Life.  I hadn't watched

that in a few years.  We all need to count our many,

many blessing.)

Enjoy!

I will be posting this with

Pink Saturday

Easy Lemon Bars

Lemon ranks right up there with chocolate

at 

Purple Chocolat Home

and these Easy Lemon Bars are ones that

will wet your appetite, and so easy to prepare.

I have been working on family histories and

after going back to Wisconsin for a family

reunion this summer, I started doing my Aunt Ionia's

history.  In 1990 we had video taped her telling

her life story.  

I came home and transcribed that.  

It wasn't that easy since it was on a VHS,

but my daughter found a VHS to DVD dubbing

machine at Wal Mart for $168 and with as

many that I needed to dub,  I decided it was 

cheaper than taking them out to have them

transferred.  Besides, I didn't know what was

on them - could have been the Knots Landing Finale

(ooh, that dates me!)

After I got that done, I began adding pictures.  I had

gathered a lot more pictures at the family reunion.  

Doing my Dad's life story (which is now at the publishers -

Lulu.com)

I realized pictures make the story, so all of our family

histories need to be redone, with pictures added, including

mine, which I wrote in 2000.

Anyway, Ionia was known as a great cook.  She

always collected recipes from others, made them

and then was willing to share the recipes with us.

She passed away in 2003 and my cousin put together

a book of memories from all of her nieces and nephews

and others, and included recipes that people submitted.

I am now in the process of adding those recipes to her

life history and want to add pictures to the recipes

(to entice people, you know), and this was one

of the first I have made to add to her history.

Easy Lemon Bars

1 pkg. lemon cake mix

1/2 C. melted butter

1 egg.

Mix the above and pat it into a 9x13 inch pan

that has been sprayed with Pam.

In a large mixing bowl, blend

1 can lemon frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

Pour over the crust.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Let cool.

Frosting

1/4 C. butter, melted

2 C. powdered sugar

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. water, if needed to make it spreadable

Beat the above ingredients together to form a fluffy

frosting.  Frost.  Refrigerate until the frosting

and filling are set up, then cut using a knife

that is run under hot water and then dried off

with a paper towel.  Repeat the heating and drying

of the knife as you cut to get smooth and pretty

edges.

Refrigerate as these contain cream cheese.

The response I got as everyone sampled them was

Mmmmmmmm.....!

Sue's Winning Cheesecake - Light and Fluffy

Do you remember when I was asked by

The Sara Lee Company to create a recipe

using their Pound Cake?

Sue from I Need Mom described

her light (not calorie light, but texture light)

cheesecake with a Sara Lee Poundcake crust and

it reminded me of a cheesecake my mom and I

made out of a failed cake I had created when

I was first learning to cook with a flat cake layer

and a cheesecake on top, so for sentimental

reasons, Sue won and I promised to make

her cheesecake and feature it on my blog.

Well, if you have been following my life, it has

been pretty crazy with wedding plans, missionary

calls and a Pioneer Trek all going on within the

same week of June 

(definitely not pouring - a deluge!!)

So I had gone off to the store right away

and purchased the goodies for making this.

It's a good thing that cream cheese and

frozen pound cake last a long time.

Yes, you guessed it, we finally made it

for Sunday dinner.

Of course I had to tweak it and top it with 

CHOCOLATE

or it wouldn't be from 

Purple Chocolat Home.

Oh yes, and some fresh strawberries too.

Before I give you an inkling of the recipe 

I have to tell you that hubby said it was 

on the par with Cheesecake Factory

which he LOVES!  He said, "No one makes
cheesecake like this!"

I really loved the look of the Sara Lee crust.

It looks like petals.  

You begin by slicing the cake into thin layers

and lining the springform pan with the

slices of cake. Press them together.

The creamy filling is then spooned in, and this is creamy,

it uses 4 C. of sour cream in the filling.  That is 

what gives it the fabulous moistness.

It calls for a 10 inch springform pan and I only

had a 9 inch so I had some left over.  I used the

ends of my Sara Lee Pound cake and crumbled

them in the bottom of a small pan and poured

the remainder on the crust so hubby and I

were able to take a sneak taste test.  We

loved the way the crust tasted and thought

it was a great cheesecake.

Of course it disappeared quickly on

Sunday. 

I am in love with Sue's recipe

and it will be a family favorite from

now on.  She said that everywhere

she took it, people just loved it and

I believe it.

I really liked the flavor and texture of

the Sara Lee Pound Cake as a crust.

 Cheesecake:

1 loaf Sarah Lee frozen pound cake, thawed and cut into 1/8 inch slices

3 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

 4 cups (32 oz.) sour cream (yes, that isn't a typo!  It really is 4 C.!)

2 teaspoons vanilla

 Topping:

1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream

 Cherry pie filling (or whatever you like)

I substituted with a chocolate layer

Melt 1 1/2 C. semi sweet chips

with

2 T. vegetable oil

Stir together until the chips are all melted.

Spread on the cooled cheesecake.

     Arrange cake slices in two overlapping layers on the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch spring form pan, press them together to close all gaps. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat just until combined. Pour over cake slices. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan. Just before serving, spread chocolate or sour cream over cheese cake; top with fresh strawberries or cherry pie filling. 12-14 servings.

To serve the cheesecake topped with chocolate,

heat the knife up a little bit by dipping in hot

water or holding over the flame of a stove

for a few seconds.  Wipe and slice.  The

heat of the knife will help make a clean cut

through the chocolate. 

Blackberry Lemon Layered Cheesecake

Blackberry and lemon -

 sounds fabulous together

and put them in a cheesecake base - WOW!

(This recipe came from IVillage.  I had to tweak

it a bit for it to work for me.)

This week is my Pinterest week and I had to

feature some sweets too!

My daughter in law pinned this and 

wanted me to make it.

It starts with a basic batter and then half of it is

flavored with blackberries and fresh lemon.

I have heard of Meyer lemons but have never seen

them in the store before.  Of course when I saw our

local grocer feature them, I had to give them a try.

Now of course, I am hooked and will probably never 

see them again, but they were really wonderful.

I had some trouble with the original recipe

BUT

we thought the flavor was fabulous, so I tweaked it

a little to give it another try.

Blackberry Lemon Layered Cheesecake

(tweaked for our tastes)

1 pkg. graham crackers

1/4 C. melted butter

1/4 C. sugar

4- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 C. sour cream

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, (preferably white vanilla)

1 large lemon, rind and juice

(if you have a small one, use 1 1/2 lemons)

12 oz. pkg of frozen blackberries, thawed

In food processor, grind the graham crackers until

a fine crumb, add the sugar, then pour in the melted butter 

and mix until well blended.  Spray the bottom of a 9 inch

springform pan with cooking spray and then press

the crumb crust into the pan using the back of a

spoon, or the bottom of a flat measuring cup.  

Press it in firmly and about half way up the sides.

Place the cream cheese into a large mixing bowl and

cream with a batter paddle on medium.  Add the sweetened

condensed milk and the sour cream and mix until smooth.  

Then add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.  

Add the vanilla. Set aside.

In your food processor puree the blackberries.  

Finely grate the lemon zest and then squeeze the

juice out.  Stir both into the blackberry puree.

Place a generous third of the cheesecake batter

into a separate bowl and stir in the blackberry puree.

Pour the blackberry layer onto the prepared crust.

Gently spoon the vanilla flavored cheesecake

(about 2/3 of the batter) onto the blackberry batter.

Spoon the vanilla batter up against the edge

of the pan so that the blackberry layer doesn't

just seep up and around the vanilla layer.

You will have a little blackberry puree left

in your bowl, use a few drops of this on top

of the batter and then run a toothpick through

them to make a design on the top, if desired.

Place in the oven and bake for 60 to 70 minutes.

The top will just begin to get brown and the center

will still be jiggly.  Carefully remove it from the oven

and let it cool to room temperature.  Then lightly cover

it and place it in the fridge overnight.

Serve it with additional blackberry sauce if desired:

Blend a 12 oz. pkg. of frozen blackberries (thawed)

in your food processor or blender.  Add 3/4 C.

sugar and 1 T. lemon juice.  

Press through sieve to remove seeds

if desired.

Cheesecake really needs to be made the day ahead as

it needs to chill and the flavors develop in the fridge.

It is even better in a couple of days if you can stand

to wait that long!

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday

Pink Saturday

Lemon Drop Cheesecake Ball

Are you looking for some refreshing desserts

that don't require heating up the kitchen this summer?

This Lemon Drop Cheesecake Ball is a great

idea that is fun and easy.  

Use either Jelly Belly Lemon Drops or

Lemonheads for flavor and crunch both

on the inside and the outside.

Lemon Drop Cheesecake Ball

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 C. butter, room temperature

1 C. powdered sugar

2 T. brown sugar

1 tsp. lemon flavoring

3.5 to 4 oz. lemon flavored candies, crushed

In mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese

and the butter until fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar,

brown sugar and lemon flavoring.  Scrape sides of

bowl.  Mix in 3 T. crushed lemon drops.  

Line a small bowl with plastic wrap and place

the mixture in it.  Place in refrigerator for at

least 2 hours to harden.  

Flour your hands. 

Form into a ball and roll in remaining crushed

lemon drops.  Wrap in plastic wrap and store in 

fridge until serving time.

Serve with assorted cookies.

You can also make a 

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cheeseball.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cheeseball

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 C. butter, room temperature

1 C. powdered sugar

2 T. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla flavoring

1/2 C. plus 3 T.  mini chocolate chips

1/2 C. pecans, finely chopped

In a mixing bowl cream the cream cheese and butter

until fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar and brown sugar

and blend well.  Mix in the vanilla and 1/2 C. mini

chocolate chips, scraping the sides.

Place the mixture into small bowl lined with

plastic wrap.  Chill for at least 2 hours.

With floured hands, shape into a ball.

Mix the remaining 3 T. chocolate chips and

chopped pecans and roll the ball in the 

nut mixture.  Wrap in plastic wrap and

refrigerate until serving.

Two fun and easy summer desserts for you to

enjoy for your family or entertaining.

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday

Sweets For A Saturday

Themed Baker's Sunday - Citrus

Seasonal Sunday