Quick & Simple Dessert ~ Turtle Cheesecake Dip

Mmm I absolutely love deserts that aren't overly sweet. Earlier this week I was volunteered to bring something to our weekly bible study. I don't have much time the night before and only a short hour prior to our group so I didn't want to cook or bake anything. This sweet treat was perfect, it only took a few minutes to prepare and we were ready to enjoy! 

Ingredients ~ 

1/4 cup butter 

8 oz cream cheese 

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 package of dry vanilla instant pudding mix 

1/2 cup caramel topping plus little more for decoration

Choice of dippers - Nilla Wafers, Chocolate Graham Crackers, Ritz Crackers, Flat Baked Pretzels

( Pretzels were the biggest hit - a perfect combo of sweet and salty )

Directions ~ 

Cream together softened cream cheese and butter on # 1 or 2 mixer setting. 

(I use a handheld mixer ) 

Add caramel and beat on higher setting. 

Add brown and powder sugar, beat on higher setting. 

Next add vanilla extract and dry pudding mix, beat until creamy. 

Lastly, fold in chocolate chips and pecans. 

Pat into a ball or place in bowl and refrigerate for about an hour. Now that the ball is molded to be rounder place on a serving dish and decorate with extra caramel, pecans, or chocolate chips. Add a spoon or knife for serving plates or dippers for quick bites. 

I wish I would have thought to bring sliced apples, that would have been delicious! 

I also made a Dark Chocolate version of this. I simply substituted the vanilla pudding for dark chocolate dry pudding and chocolate chips for white chocolate chips. This was even a bigger hit! I should have know... what woman doesn't love chocolate??

Enjoy!

~ Rayah

Fluffy Nerds Cupcakes

mmm these were delicious. 

If you have a sweat tooth or like things on the tangy side this is perfect.

I had to wait to share this recipes because I served this at my husbands birthday party. He likes his dessert to be a surprise and has no problem with me being creative.

Now this isn't from scratch but I still believe it's blog worthy.

My husband's favorite cake is Funfetti but I like to change things up so I purchased a $0.98 white cake  mix and 2 boxes of nerds. Followed the directions on the package and they came out AMAZING!

     Here's what you need ~

1 box of your favorite cake mix

2 medium boxes of Nerds candy

4 fun colored frostings

4 egg whites

Coconut oil

Follow the directions on the box or your favorite recipe but add 1 box of Nerds to the mix right before you put it in the cake or cupcake pan. The 2nd box is for decorations later.

They wont need any additional cooking time and will come out super moist.

The nerds dissolve and all that's left is a pop of color when you bite in and this super tangy Nerds taste. I loved it!

Let them cool and decorate as desired.

Enjoy!

~Rayah

Pecan Pie Cobbler

Well I missed national Pecan Pie Day on July 12th so maybe today can be national Cobbler Day?

I was in the mood for pie last night, psh I'm always in the mood for pie, so I whipped together my favorite pecan dish yet.

 I had all the ingredients in my pantry so we ran to the market for some pecans.

What you'll need:

4 cups of Pecans

Vanilla Ice Cream

6 slightly beaten eggs

4 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 1/2 cups of light corn syrup

1/2 cup or 1 stick of melted butter

2 1/2 packed cups of brown sugar

1 box of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, thawed as directed on box

What you'll do:

Preheat oven to 425

Grease a 13x9 or larger glass or ceramic pan with oil or butter.

Remove 1 pie crust. Roll out and fit to pan. May need to trim the edges.

In a large bowl mix corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs with wire whisk.

Chop 2 cups of the pecans in fourths. Add to large bowl and stir.

Pour half of mix into the pie crust pan.

Now place the second pie crust over the filling and pinch edges closed.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and remove from oven.

Reduce temp to 350 and pour remaining filling onto pie crust.

Top with remaining pecans and place in oven for additional 30 minutes.

Turn off oven and let cool on cooling rack for 20 minutes then serve warm cobbler with ice cream.

Yum Yum Yum

If you don't have the right size dish no worries. Fill what you can into one dish with the two layers then use a second dish to make a single layer pie.

 

Seal of approval? My hubby says it's the best Pecan dessert he's every had

*and he's a picky eater*

Enjoy!

~Rayah

Now I can share... Raspberry Coconut Cheesecake

Since yesterday was Sarah's birthday but we couldn't fully celebrate until today I can finally share my cheesecake recipe I made for her. OH MY!!! It was DELICIOUS.

By far one of the best deserts I have every had. I had trouble sharing.

I licking the bowl clean... NO LIE!

 But for her birthday I did take her out for Sushi. Tulsa's Sushi Hana is absolutely the best. Get the OMG Roll... Tell them Shurayah sent you and they'll hook you up with a free appetizer.

After we were fully stuffed they brought her a deep fried slice of cheesecake... again delicious!!!

But back to my cheesecake recipe.

Ingredients

4 - 8-ounce packages of cream cheese

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon Coconut extract

1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

2 cups of Coconut shavings

2 cups of Raspberries

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

3 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 335 F and oil ( I used coconut oil)  an 8 to 9-inch cake or glass pan. Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom for easy removal later. If you are wanting a crust I recommend toasting some of the coconut now to use.

Place one 8-ounce package of the cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the cornstarch in the bowl to mix. Beat on low speed until creamy, about 3 minutes, then beat in the remaining 3 packages of cream cheese.

Increase the mixer speed to high and beat in 1 1/4 cups of the sugar. After you're done with that beat in the vanilla, coconut extract, and salt. Blend in the eggs one at a time, beating only until completely blended.

Now slowly mix in the cream and sour cream until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place the pan in a larger shallow pan containing warm/hot water that comes about halfway up the sides of the pan. Bake the cheesecake until the top is lightly browned and center not wobbly, about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the oven with the door propped open for about 30 minutes. 

Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours if you plan on eating it the same day.

Now for the coconut. Switch the oven to broil and spread the coconut on your baking sheet.

Toast for about 15-25 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to make sure you're not burning them. They wont all turn brown but as long as 20% of them change color that's what you're looking for. Remove from oven and let set until the cheesecake is ready.

For the Raspberry sauce topping use only 1 cup fresh raspberries ( the rest will be for decoration) and 3/4 cup sugar. Reduce in small pot over medium heat until thickened. If you don't like the seeds then now's the time you'll want to strain the sauce.

 

Press the toasted coconut into the sides of the cheesecake. They wont all stick the first time so you might have to go around it a few times to place as much as you want on.

Spread raspberry sauce to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the cheesecake. Place fresh raspberries on the top.

Eat and Enjoy!

Since my husband hates seeds and I wasn't sure who would mind I did strain them out as much as I needed to cover the cake. I was a bit hungry and everything was so delicious that I decided to use the remaining seeded sauce for a late night PB&J sandwhich. mm mmm

~ Rayah

Strawberry Cake

So the other day my husband was antsy so I decided to bake him a cake.

Why? I don't know but it seemed to be exactly what he needed.

I looked through the pantry and found a mix for Moist Supreme Strawberry Cake. He absoltely loves strawberries.

The recipe calls for

• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 of oil
• 3 egg
• mix

It didn't specify what kind of oil and right now I'm trying to sneak Coconut Oil into everything so that's what I used.

I set my oven for 350 degrees and mixed everything into a bowl. Coated my 7 x 11 glass pan with Coconut Oil, poured the mix in then baked for 36 minutes. ( time will vary based on your oven )

Now for my secret weapon... Frosting! I heated the frosting up in microwave just long enough for it to be a pourable consistency ( 30 seconds to 1 minute). Now that you've safely pulled the cake out of the oven go ahead and pour the melted frosting over the cake. The cake has air pockets that will absorb 90% of the frosting down into the cake. The cake still stays moist and even more delicious. The frosting is not over powering this way.

Now if you'd like your cake a little prettier I suggest following all the steps above then letting it cool and coating it with a thin layer of frosting so you wont see any air pockets. But my husband was too anxious to wait any longer.

Results- the most delicious box Strawberry cake I've ever had.

Enjoy!

~Rayah