Cream Pie with Chocolate Stars

I have no reason or excuse for making this dessert, other than I just really wanted to. I did take some over to a neighbor to share so we wouldn't eat the whole thing in one night, which I probably could have done!

It isn't really what I think of when I hear 'cream pie' but it isn't a cheesecake either, so I'm not sure what to call it. The original recipe called it a strawberry and cream pie.
I got this recipe from a little pamphlet at a store that came with coupons. The original recipe says to top it with fresh strawberries. I'm sure that is yummy and all, but I didn't have any. What I did have was chocolate, which was delicious and I got creative with it so it looked pretty too!

Seriously, I don't know which part I loved most, the homemade crust, the light creamy center or the chocolate stars-I loved it!


Cream Pie
1 pie crust
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 oz cool whip
garnish such as fresh berries, chocolate candies, etc.

Prepare pie crust according to directions and cool. In a medium bowl combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add in cool whip until fluffy. Spread into cooled pie crust. Top with garnish and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the chocolate stars, I melted some chocolate and spread it evenly onto waxed paper. I waited until it was mostly solid but still flexible-maybe 45 minutes. Then I used a cookie cutter to cut out my shapes.

Pie Crust
1 1/3 C flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 C crisco
3 T water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in crisco until uniform. Sprinkle water and toss lightly with a fork (being really cautious of not over handling). Shape into a ball. Roll out on floured surface.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

This week was one of my art students' birthday, so what better excuse to try a new cake recipe? This comes from a booklet that my mom passed down to me.

We really enjoyed this cake, the chocolate glaze makes it awesome. My only thoughts on changing the actual recipe would be to add more chocolate chips, cause I'm an extra chocolate kind of person.


Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

1 C butter (no substitutions)
2 C sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 C flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 C sour cream
2 C semisweet chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda and add the the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 10 inch bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes. Cool completely, then top with glaze.
(I don't have a bundt pan, so I cut the recipe in half and baked it in a 9 inch round, later I wished I had remembered my mini bundt pan, but oh well, another time!)

Chocolate Glaze:

1/4 C semisweet chocolate chips
2 T butter
1 1/4 C powdered sugar
3 T milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining ingredients. Drizzle over cake.

Hawaiian Cake

We had some friends over for dinner this weekend and I wanted to make a cake that represented spring and that would showcase my cake stand. So I turned to this recipe. It comes from a binder that I have, full of family recipe's from relatives on my Great Grandma Summer's side. My mom submitted this recipe and I have to apologize to her, and anyone who has specific connections to the original recipe because I did alter it to fit my needs. But it was still fabulous nonetheless. And now that I am more familiar with the textures of the recipe, I can see what I could have done differently to make it prettier. But, for this being my first layered cake ever, I don't think it was all that bad. And it really was refreshing and delicious!



Hawaiian Cake
(the original)

1 lemon cake mix
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 8oz packages of vanilla pudding
2 C milk
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained
12 oz cool whip
shredded coconut
maraschino cherries

Make cake mix as directed on box, bake in the largest pan size. Cool completely. Mix softened cream cheese, milk, and pudding. Fold in pineapple. Spread on cake. Top with cool whip. Sprinkle with coconut and arrange cherries. Refrigerate until ready to serve.



What I did differently...
I baked the cake in two 9 inch round pans.
I used raspberry jelly as a filling to separate the layers.
I added an extra vanilla pudding to thicken the mixture so I could spread it on the sides too, next time I would add less milk.
I left off the cool whip and cherries, only because the extra toppings would mean I could not fit the lid on my cake stand and I wanted to protect the cake from tasting like onion that was chopped and stinking up the fridge. And in the end, I decided not to add the cool whip and cherries anyway cause I liked the taste just great without them.

Peanut Butter Truffles

I was just in the mood to make something delicious and fun so I picked this recipe. I tore it out of a magazine a long time ago and am now finally getting around to making them!
I cut the recipe down to scale so we wouldn't have too many (so I can make a cake tomorrow!). And I wanted to give each one it's own special touch with different toppings. I used graham cracker crumbs, chopped macadamia nuts, coconut, mini M&Ms and peanuts. Travis said his favorite was the macadamia nuts and I think mine was the one with the peanuts on it.
I really enjoyed these, but I wanted the peanut butter to be a little sweeter, more like a peanut butter cup, so maybe next time I would consider cutting down the amount of powdered milk and replacing it with some powdered sugar. But with all that said, the over all outcome was still "YUM!"


Peanut Butter Truffles
Mix together 1/2 C peanut butter, 1/3 C honey, and 1 C powdered milk. Roll into 20 one inch balls. Melt 6 oz of chocolate and dip balls into it. Top or roll truffles with garnishes of your choice while the chocolate is still gooey. Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Cream Cheese Brownies

Mmm! I totally loved these! Sometimes I think homemade brownies don't turn out as good as a box mix, but these were delicious! This recipe is from a little booklet I have from Baker's Baking Chocolate. The brownie part was dense and rich, just how I love them! And the cream cheese layer was a nice touch.


Cream Cheese Brownies

4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
3/4 C butter
2 1/2 C sugar
5 eggs
1 1/4 C flour
1 package cream cheese (8 oz)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13x9 pan with foil, leaving ends over the edge and grease.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large bowl for 2 minutes, or until butter is melted. Stir until well blended. Add 2 cups of the sugar, mix well. Add 4 of the eggs and mix again. Stir in 1 cup of flour. Spread into prepared pan.

Beat cream cheese, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, the last egg and 1/4 C flour. Spoon over brownie mixture. Cut through cream cheese with a knife for a marble effect.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool on a wire rack. Using edges of foil, life brownies out of pan and cut. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Chocolate Cookies with Mini M&Ms

I whipped up this yummy little treat before heading out of town over the weekend. I just really wanted to bake something and since there would be other people to share it with, then why not?
They were super easy. Just a box of devil's food cake mix stirred into 1/2 cup of oil and two eggs. Then I added the mini M&M's and baked for about 10 minutes at 350. Yummy!

Easy Fudge

I made some quick and easy one bowl fudge on Saturday. I know it isn't quite the same as the kind you stir forever, but it still tastes yummy and chocolaty! I added some mini marshmallows to the top for a rocky road effect, which was a treat. And I liked having them in the muffin cups for easy serving.

One Bowl Fudge
2 packages (8 squares each) Baker's semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 C chopped walnuts

Line an 8 inch pan with foil, ends extending over the side. In a bowl, microwave chocolate and condensed milk about 2 minutes. Stir until chocolate is completely melted, it may need to be heated a bit more. Stir in walnuts. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate 2 hours. Using foil, lift and cut into pieces.