Chess bars

aka Paula' Deen's "Gooey Butter Cakes"

I've made these countless times for the Bible study girls and they keep asking me for the recipe but I have failed to post it b/c they are always gone before I can get a picture!  Thankfully one of the girls in the group snapped one for me of a bar she had taken home :)

These are so good and SO easy--I made them the other night in less than 15 minutes!  It's one of those "doctored cake mix" recipes so food snobs will just have to suck it up, but the great thing is that you can also do tons of different variations based on different cake mixes.  I've made it with a chocolate cake mix base and added sifted cocoa powder in the topping for one of the most gooey decadent brownie type creations--you've got to try it!

Here's the basic recipe from Paula Deen:
Cake:
1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted

Filling:
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
16 oz. powdered sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Lightly grease a 13x9 baking pan (I use a pyrex pan)
In the bowl of an electric mixer or a medium to large bowl, combine cake mix, egg, & butter until evenly mixed.  Pat into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside.
In same bowl beat cream cheese until smooth; add eggs & vanillla.  Dump in powdered sugar and beat well.  Reduce mixer speed & slowly pour in butter until mixture is evenly combined. 
Pour filling onto cake base & spread evenly.
Bake 40-50 minutes--you want the center to be gooey so don't bake it too long.  I usually go about 45 minutes, taking it out when I can really smell it (your house will smell amazing!).
Remove from oven & cool completely.  (I refrigerate over night)
Cut into squares to serve. (yields 20-24 squares)

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Apologies in advance for horrid pictures, but I couldn't wait to post this!

Last Tuesday I decided to do a Mexican themed night for our Bible study dinner--complete with burrito casserole and white queso cheese dip (yum!).  I had the peanut butter cookies from the TWD recipe that week, but I wanted something a little more substantial (you know me...I can never just do one thing!). 

When we were kids I remember going to a crazy Mexican-ish restaurant in Denver Colorado called Casa Bonita.  It is really over the top with "cliff divers" and flame jugglers, and crazy shows, but it was one of my very favorite things to do when we would be in Colorado for the summer!  Well, they had this awesome service--instead of a "bottomless bread basket" you got unlimited sopapillas!  Basically fried squares of dough which are sprinkled with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar and you can eat them with honey--so amazing! 

Several months back I saw a recipe for a sopailla cheesecake while browsing my blogs and it never left my head.  I was shocked to see that I had not bookmarked it, but a quick search in my Google reader directed me to Diana's Cocina.

Now, my picture is nothing in comparison to hers which caught my eye...but I guess that is one of the problems with making things to serve after it gets dark...

I think this is the Bible study girls' favorite thing I've made so far.  They were all groaning as they ate it!  I served it warm and completely plain, but it would be great with some ice cream or whipped cream for that matter...  It was also fabulous cold the next day.  And seriously, this is about as simple as it gets!

Sopapilla Cheesecake
from Diana's Cocina

2 packages of crescent rolls
2 8oz packages of cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup of sugar
1 stick of butter, melted
2 teaspoon Mexican vanilla (i just used regular...)
Cinnamon-sugar mixture for topping, 2/3 cup sugar, and a Tablespoon of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Open one package of crescent rolls and line the bottom of a lightly sprayed 9x13 baking pan to form bottom crust.

In a large bowl mix with hand held blender the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth and spoon out over the crust. Take the second package of crescent rolls and spread to form top crust. Pinch perforated edges together where needed.

Mix the melted butter, cinnamon-sugar and pour evenly over top crust.

Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on preference. Once the crescents are done it is ready.  I actually baked mine for 45 minutes (the same time as the casserole I made that night) and it was perfect!

You should absolutely make this because it is so easy, makes several servings, and is out of this world!

TWD: Banana coconut Ice Cream Pie

For this week's TWD challenge, Spike of Spike Bakes chose the Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie on page 350 of Baking from My Home to Yours.
 
I wouldn't call myself a banana lover.  I  like them in my cereal, and love banana bread and cake, but am not one to eat them straight up or to eat frozen bananas or banana flavored things.  I also am not a huge fan of the banana/chocolate combination.  So, I almost skipped this week. 

But then, I was sick yesterday and wanted something sweet...and after a year of homemade baked goods, packaged cookies just don't do it for me anymore!  I looked in the fridge and freezer, and was completely shocked to see that there were no treats to eat!!!  How is that possible?? 

So I took another look at the recipe.  I didn't have butter cookies or chocolate ice cream, but it seemed like it would come together so quickly...So I subbed graham crackers for the butter cookies and used butter pecan ice cream to mix with the banana, rum & lemon juice for the filling.  Seriously, this pie was done in like 15 minutes!  the longest part of it was getting the coconut to brown, which was my fault b/c I used a small saucepan instead of a skillet. 

I've read this on so many many other blogs, but the crust is the real star of this recipe.  I mean, how can you go wrong with butter, coconut, and cookie crumbs?? 

I don't know if I will make this particular recipe again, not being a huge fan of banana and all, but I think this crust is amazing and I will definitely use it again.

Thanks for the pick spike! Check out the Leave your link post on the TWD site to see who else baked along this week.

TWD: two for the price of one!

I missed last week's treat due to illness, but got to make it later on and that Swedish visiting cake was WONDERFUL!  Such a simple recipe and it turned out great!  I was also very exicted to use my cast iron skillet from my granny for the first time.  Thanks to Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs (sounds like my house!) for this simple and delicious pick!

For this week, Melissa of Love at First Bite chose the Sweet Cream Biscuits from page 23.  I was so excited to make these because just the other day I was talking to hubs about how I need to learn to make biscuits!

Well, these were wonderful!  Super easy to throw together, once again only requiring a couple of dishes and very little mess...and so addicting!  I'm not really sure why Dorie says to cut these w/a 2 in. biscuit cutter--they were tiny, and I will definitely use a bigger cutter next time--but they were the perfect size for popping into your mouth! (bad choice...my tummy is too full...)  She also says you will get about 12 biscuits...I got at least 2 dozen...another reason why I questioned the size of the biscuit cutter.  I even googled "diameter" to make sure I wasn't just confusing it with radius! lol.

I ate a few with my favorite cream honey and some fresh lemon curd : )

I was surprised at how high the little biscuits puffed up!  If only my puff pastry would get his high...

I definitely recommend BOTH of these recipes, and it was a nice change of pace to have something a little less "fancy" and time consuming.  Both of these can be thrown together in minutes and make for wonderful snacking...I think I'm gonna use some of the rest of the biscuits for mini ham sandwiches for hubs to snack on tonight.  He's gonna love me!  : )

And don't forget to stop by the TWD site to see who baked along this week!