Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

These dessert bars are wonderful! Everyone loves them. You could easily use whatever sort of pie filling you'd like. It is best to make this the day before you serve it, so that the cheesecake softens and mellows in flavor. Believe me, it will make a big difference! The original recipe is called a tart, so its filling is very thin. I always double the filling ingredients, and once I even tripled it, which just made it all the more delicious, but usually, I just double it. What is listed below is the doubled version.

It is very simple to make and doesn't take all that long!

Pat your graham cracker crust in a  greased 9 x 13" pan and set aside. I lined the pan with parchment paper because the pan is scratched up. It's not necessary and not something I usually do, but it turns out that I liked it better with the pan lined, so I will probably do so next time. But do as you wish.

Beat together your filling and pour over the crust. Bake until filling is set and top is lightly browned. Cool. When it comes out of the oven, it will be real puffed up, but then will deflate as it cools.

Top with pie filling.

Spread Cool Whip on top and refrigerate. Store in the refrigerator.

Printable Recipe

Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup pwd sugar


Mix together in a bowl and pat into a greased 9 x 13" pan. You may line the pan with parchment paper if you wish. What I did was to spray the pan with Pam first, line the pan, then spray the parchment with Pam again. Set pan aside while you prepare the filling.

Filling
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Topping
1 can Blueberry Pie Filling (you may use whatever flavor you wish - lemon should be real good, though I haven't tried it yet)
1 (12-oz) container of Cool Whip

Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, beating until smooth, again. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until thoroughly combined. Pour over the graham cracker crust. Bake 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, or until filling has set and top is lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack. Top with the pie filling, spreading to the edges of pan. Top right away with the Cool Whip, also spreading to the edges of the pan. Refrigerate. Store in the refrigerator. This is best made the day before serving.

Apple Pie Bars

Being a cold and snowy day, it was perfect weather for making pie. That, and the fact that I have an abundance of apples in my refrigerator. I decided that rather than making traditional pie, I'd make it into bars. I am lousy at making pie crust (which is why I don't make pie very often), and while the crust doesn't look pretty, it sure is tender, flaky and delicious! The glaze is optional.

 Printable Recipe

This comes from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Pastry
1  1/3 cups shortening
3  1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
8 - 9 tbsp cold water

Filling
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp ground nutmeg ( I added additional nutmeg to taste)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
dash salt
8 cups thinly sliced pared, tart apples (about 7 medium)

3 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces (do this when you add the apples to the pastry)

Glaze
3/4 cup pwd sugar
about 1 tbsp milk
might be good to add a splash of maple extract


Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine the sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt, and then add the apples, stirring until combined. Set aside.

For the Pastry, combine the flour and salt and cut in the shortening until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in the water, 1 tbsp at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl.1 - 2 tsp of water can be added, if necessary. Shape into a ball and divide in half.

Shape each pastry half into a flattened round on a lightly floured surface. Using a flour-covered rolling pin, roll first round into a rectangle, 18x13". Fold pastry in fourths; unfold and ease into an ungreased jelly roll pan,
15 1/2x10 1/2".

Roll second pastry round into a rectangle, 17x12". Fold into fourths, and cut a few slits into the edges so that steam can escape. Pour prepared apples into the pastry-lined pan. Dot with the 3 tbsp butter. Top with the other pastry crust with the slits. Seal and flute the edges.

Bake 425 degrees for about 35-40 minutes until crust is golden brown and juices from the apples begin to bubble through the slits in the crust.

For the Glaze, combine the pwd sugar and milk until desired consistency, and drizzle over the crust.

New York-Style Crumb Cake

This recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated. I made only a few adjustments to it. The directions say to be sure to use cake flour, or else it will turn out too dry. It only is enough to make a 9" cake pan, so it was almost completely gone after we ate. (We had "breakfast" for dinner!) It's good enough that I'm tempted to make another one, tomorrow morning!

Printable Recipe

Crumb Topping
8 tbsp butter, melted and still warm
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
3/4 tsp cinnamon (I used 1 tsp, but you could even add a little more)
1/8 tsp salt
1  3/4 cups cake flour
I sprinkled on some nutmeg, when I put the crumb topping on the cake batter

Cake
1  1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool - not melted at all
1/3 cup buttermilk or plain low-fat yogurt (I used buttermilk)
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For The Topping:
Whisk the butter, sugars, cinnamon and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in the flour until completely incorporated; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 - 15 minutes.


For The Cake:
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8" square pan with foil, allowing extra foil to hang over the edges of the pan. Lightly coat the foil with vegetable oil spray.
(I skipped the foil step, and obviously, I used a round cake pan ... my square pan is in storage. I must say that I did have a little trouble getting the first piece out of the pan, but that could have been because I did not cool it as long as it says to later on in the directions. So you may want to do the step with the foil.)

Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until completely combined. With an electric mixer on low speed, add the butter 1 piece at a time, beating until the mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible chunks of butter remaining, 1 - 2 minutes. Add the buttermilk, egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat on medium-high speed until batter is light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping sides down as needed.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Break the crumb topping (Which will probably be somewhat hardened at this point, but that is ok) into large pea-sized pieces and spread in an even layer over the batter beginning with the edges and then working toward the center. (There was so much crumb topping, I had to do almost a double layer of it; but that's not a bad thing!) Just be sure not to press the topping down into the batter. I sprinkled the crumb topping with nutmeg.

Bake at 325 degrees until the crumbs are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 - 40 minutes. Cool the cake on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes, remove from pan by lifting the foil extensions. Dust with pwd sugar just before serving.

Ginger Bars

This recipe is adapted from Fine Cooking. They can be dusted with pwd sugar, or frosted with a Royal Icing. The day I made these happened to be very humid, so the icing never did properly set up. Still, I'm not entirely sure that is the type of icing I was going after. What I was trying for, is the type of frosting that you find on ginger cookies sold at a bakery, but I'm not exactly sure what sort of icing that is. You know, something that hardens? What I'm thinking of is a little sweeter and doesn't taste so much of meringue. Anyways, next time, I will probably use this recipe for the glaze, unless someone can give me a recipe for what it is I'm looking for.

I added extra spices to the bars, and you could probably up the spices even a little more. I'm not a huge fan of honey and I wondered if it would overpower the bars, so I cut down in the amount called for and added an extra 1/2 of a tbsp of sugar. The honey didn't overpower the bars, but I could still taste it. Perhaps next time I might cut down in it even some more. Still though, they turned out very well and were nearly all eaten that night!

2 cups flour
2 3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
13 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/3 cups plus 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp molasses
4 tsp honey
2 extra-large eggs

pwd sugar for sprinkling

Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, and salt in a bowl. Mix well and set aside. In another bowl, cream the butter, sugar, molasses and honey for 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and beat on low speed, until just blended. Spread into a greased 9 x 13" pan and bake, 350 degrees, for 23-25 minutes until the edges just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Cool completely in pan, on a wire rack. Dust with pwd sugar, or frost with icing of your choice.

As I said, I used a Royal Icing, made from Meringue Powder, following the directions on the side of can. Just be aware that if it is humid, it probably will not properly set up. It will still taste good, but it won't completely harden.

Chex Mix

Printable Recipe

My kids love this stuff! I usually only make it around this time of the year, because that is when the cereal is on sale. Even when I make a triple batch, it doesn't even last a day. I make it in a huge roasting pan, and you'd think it would be enough to last forever, but not in my house! I do not add the pretzels or peanuts, even though I included them in the recipe. I do add a little extra of the Worcestershire sauce and the salt.

3x's              2x's          1x   
1 1/2 cups     1 cup        1/2 cup   butter
9 tbsp           6 tbsp       3 tbsp      Worcestershire sauce
6 tsp             3 tsp         2 tsp        (rounded tsp's) seasoned salt (Lawry's)
9 cups           6 cups      3 cups     Wheat Chex cereal
9 cups           6 cups      3 cups     Rice Chex cereal
9 cups           6 cups      3 cups     Corn Chex cereal
3 cups           2 cups      1 cup       broken pretzels
3 cups           2 cups      1 cup       salted peanuts


Preheat the oven to 250°. Melt the butter in a large roasting pan in the oven. Add the Worcestershire sauce and seasoned salt to the pan and stir until combined. Add the cereals, pretzels and nuts and stir until thoroughly coated. Bake 250° for 50 - 60 minutes, stirring every 10 - 15 minutes. Let cool and store in a covered container.