Good morning;)  How was everyone’s Halloween?  The kids had a great time.  We started out by doing our pumpkins yesterday morning.  They were so cute:)  Sarah went with the neighbors, MyMatthew  and Jamie both went with friends. Paul and I stayed behind here at home and passed out candy (and have hot chocolate ready for our’s when they came home:). My GOSH we had a lot of kids!!  I bet we EASILY had over 150.  We’ve never had that many.  We gave out all of our goodies and even had to raid the kids’ stuff to supplement.  How crazy is that? It was really cold too.  Paul and I were bundled up.  People up and down the streets had their bonfires going. We thought about it but we were just worried about kids in costumes getting to close.  Afterwards, we went to see a pumpkin display and then out to supper;) So it was a fun day:)

The recipe I’m sending out today is for little Petite Cherry Cheesecakes. Paul isn’t a fan of vanilla wafers so I made him a few in these little crusts. And for the rest, I used Oreos:)  Talk about good!  Give them a try and let me know what yall think:)  Enjoy!!

OK, HERE’S What You Need:

16 ounces cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
24 vanilla wafers
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling (or just a candied cherry for on top:)

HERE’S What You Do:

Beat first five ingredients until light and fluffy. Line small muffin tins with paper baking cups. Place 1 vanilla wafer in bottom of each tin. Fill cups 2/3-full with cream cheese mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes until set. Top each with 1 tablespoon pie filling. Chill. Makes 24 cakes. Preparation time: approximately 25 minutes

Hello:) What a  gorgeous day it has turned out to be!  The kids are on fall break so they are outside playing, soaking up the sunshine while it’s still around.  Paul and I are sitting here listening to the Glee soundtrack:) We are only on Season 1 but we have gotten so hooked on it.  I had Accounting this morning.  45 minutes into it, all I wanted to do was get out of there and come home and cook or make something. So I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and picked up some beef bones to make beef stock. It’s simmering away on the stove atm, smelling ohhh sooo good:)  I also bought more round steak and chuck roast so we could grind up some more hamburger meat.  My food sanitation class is really making me think twice about what we are really eating.

I made this coffee cake about a month ago and have made it a few more times in different variations. One was the Traditional English Sponge Cake.  I just didn’t use the streusel topping. I ended up with an 8 x 8 and then I made a loaf pan that I added walnuts too.  This is a very adaptable recipe. A good basic I guess you could say:)  Give it a try and enjoy!

OK, HERE’S What You Need:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Streusel:

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cups pecans ( I actually didn’t use this much because I only made a small loaf pan with these)

HERE’S What You Do:

Cream your room temp butter really well.

Add your eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Blend well.

Mix together your dry ingredients in another bowl.

Add dry mix to your wet mixture. Don't mix in all at once. Add it a bit at a time on low speed so you don't sling it all over the place:)

Mix for about 2 minutes on medium.

Pour into prepared baking dishes. I use empty butter wrappers to butter my dishes. Really works great and it keeps you from getting your hands all greasy:)

Now, in another bowl, you are going to make your topping:) Mix together your streusel ingredients.

Sprinkle generously over your cake(s). I added the crumbled up walnuts to my topping in the loaf pan because the kids won't touch them -- so that pan was ALLLL MIIINNNEEEE;)

Bake about 45 minutes (til a toothpick comes out clean) at 350 F. Super delicious in the afternoon with a cup of coffee and a good friend to visit with:)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Momma;)

I’m so happy to have her up here for her birthday again this year:)  Aunt Kathy, Martha and Bob came over tonight for pizza, salad and birthday cake.  Afterwards, Paul and I snuck off into the family room to watch the LSU vs Florida game and let the ‘grown ups’ talk;)  What a game! Edge of your eat once more:)  Tomorrow (Sunday) is actually Momma’s birthday. Hopefully it’ll be a nice day for her:)  Everyone really enjoyed this cake. The fresh whipped cream really makes it.  I didn’t have long toothpicks for the cake. Definitely need them so make sure you grab some at the store if you don’t have them. The top is all “slidey”.  Enjoy!!

OK, HERE’S What You Need:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whipped Cream:

2 cups Heavy whipping cream

2/3 C. sugar

1/2 T. vanilla

Red Raspberry Jam – stirred up really well

powdered sugar

HERE’S What You Do:

Bring your butter to room temp and cream it really well.

Add your egg, sour cream and vanilla - beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, powder, sugar and salt. Mix well and add a bit at a time to your butter/sour cream.

Mix well

Grease your cake pans and pour batter evenly into each of them. Drop on the counter a couple of times to get the air bubbles out. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean.

Once your cake is out of the oven and completely cooled - whip your cream, sugar and vanilla.

Generously, spread your whipping cream on the bottom cake layer.

Next, slather on the Raspberry Jam.

Place top layer on. Insert your long toothpicks into the cake to keep the top from sliding. Cover with a heavy sprinkling of powder sugar:) SOOoooOOoo YuM!!