Blackberry Cheesecake Bars

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.  Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving 1-inch of foil overhanging at 2 opposite sides of the pan.  You'll need this extra foil to lift the cheesecake out of the pan when you're ready to cut it into bars.  Spray the foil with cooking spray. 

Crust:
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 Tbsp butter, melted

Place the almonds in a food processor (I love my Magic Bullet for things like this!) and pulse until the almonds are mostly all ground up.  Combine them in a small bowl with the graham crumbs, sugar cinnamon and butter and stir until the crumbs look sort of like wet sand.  Spread them in the foil lined pan and press firmly into the bottom of the pan.  Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes then remove the pan but don't turn the oven off yet!

Let the crust cool while you prepare the filling.

Filling:
3 (8-oz) packages of Philadelphia Brand cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/3 cup seedless blackberry jam
Fresh blackberries and mint leaves to garnish, if desired

In a large bowl, beat the cram cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla on medium speed until smooth.  On low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, just until blended.  Pour into the crust. 

Spoon small dollops of blackberry jam over the filling and then swirl them with a knife to create a marbled effect.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until set.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 1 hour.  Cover pan with foil and refrigerate at least 2 hours (or overnight). 

When you're ready to serve, use the overhanging foil to lift the cheesecake carefully out of the pan.  Cut into bars and top each with a fresh blackberry and a mint leaf to garnish.  

Store, covered, in the refrigerator.

I found this recipe at bettycrocker.com  They are called Blackberry Cheesecake Bites on that site and call for cutting them into 36 bars.  Personally, that's just too small and too much work.  And my husband would laugh at me if I served him a piece of cheesecake that small!  So I cut this into 12 pieces and that seems just about right to me.  These bars taste SO good!  You can't really go wrong with cheesecake for dessert.  However, they took about 1 hour to completely bake and the top cracked so they didn't look as pretty as I would have liked.  But they definitely tasted good!  - New Year's Day, 2014

L'il Slice of Heaven Cornbread

3 strips of bacon, finely chopped

1/4 sweet onion, finely minced

1 1/4 cups cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

8 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup honey

1 cup shredded pepper-jack cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 425°F.

Fry the bacon in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat until crispy and browned.  Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Drain off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings and add the minced onion.  Reduce the heat to medium/medium-low and cook the onions until caramelized.  They should be very soft, sweet and a golden brown color.  Set aside.

Cut the butter into slices and place in an 8-inch iron skillet (or an 8x8x2-inch baking pan) and place in the oven to melt while you mix the cornbread batter.  Don't put this in the oven too soon...you just want to melt the butter and get the skillet good and hot.

Combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Add the buttermilk, eggs and honey and stir until well mixed.  Fold in the crumbled bacon, the onions and half the shredded cheese.   Remove the skillet from the oven and carefully swirl the melted butter around the skillet sides and then pour it into the batter and stir until it's all mixed in.  Pour the batter into the still hot skillet and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Return the skillet to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until the cornbread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly before cutting and serving.

I adapted this recipe from the one found at thecozyapron.com and it is awesome!  This recipe is in my top 3 of all time for cornbread!  It's moist and tastes absolutely delicious with that caramelized onion flavor teasing your taste buds after each bite.  Excellent recipe!  -New Year's Dinner 2014.

Almond Cream Puff Ring

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix  (I used Cheesecake flavor pudding!)

1 1/4 cups milk (and I only used 1 cup milk instead of 1 1/4)

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

1 teaspoon almond extract

                   

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 teaspoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour a cookie sheet, or use parchment paper. Using a dinner plate as a guide, trace a circle on the sheet.               

In a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to a boil. With a wooden spoon, vigorously stir in flour all at once, until mixture forms a ball, and leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat, and beat in the eggs one at a time, until mixture is smooth. Drop batter into 10 mounds inside the circle traced on the cookie sheet, to form a ring.                

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn off oven, leaving ring in for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool on wire rack. When cool, slice in half horizontally, and place bottom ring on serving plate. Spoon Almond Cream Filling on bottom ring, then replace top ring. Chill in refrigerator.               

To make Almond Cream Filling: Prepare pudding according to instructions on package, but use only 1 1/4 cups milk. Fold in whipped cream, and 1 teaspoon almond extract.              

To make Chocolate Glaze: In a double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, combine chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup. Heat until melted and smooth, stirring occasionally. Spoon over the top of chilled ring.               

Very good! 

Cathy's Favorite New Years Greens

I hate Greens.  Truly.  But every year of my life Greens are on the menu for New Year's Day.  It's tradition.  As a Southerner you are obliged to eat them to ensure a prosperous new year.  So I would choke down a few bites every year until I had about as much wealth as I thought I could stand and then I would have a whole year before having to face them again. 

But this year, I have finally found THE recipe for this disgusting vegetable dish that I actually (gasp!) LIKED!!!  Thanks to Rachael Ray for the inspiration!  She's my hero! (heroine?)  Here's my adaptation of her recipe for "Smoky Greens with Cranberries", henceforth to be known as "Cathy's Favorite New Years Greens"!

2 pkgs frozen turnip greens
1 pkg frozen turnip greens with diced turnips
32 oz carton chicken broth
1 smoked pork neckbone (about the size of your fist)
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 heaping tbsp brown sugar
Salt & Pepper to taste
A handful for dried cranberries

In a large stockpot, combine the chicken broth, nutmeg, brown sugar, salt and pepper.  Add the neckbone and the greens and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer until as done as you like them (about an hour at my house!).  Stir in the cranberries and cook until they plump up a bit.  That's it.  You're done!

And these are really, really good!  I could eat these more than once a year - and I intend to!  Rachael's recipe actually called for Kale, but Publix was completely out of those - however, I'll be trying them in this dish soon!  Happy New Year!  Mine's gonna be PROSPEROUS!