Peanut Butter Toblerone Cheesecake (no bake)

This is one of those incredible recipes that if you ate more than a small piece of it your heart would probably explode. Not that it's not tempting to overindulge.

Personally I don't know anyone crazy enough to try to eat more than one or two small pieces. It is so rich and decadent that you really just simply can't eat anymore.

BUT...

It is incredibly impressive to bring to a dinner party or somewhere you need to impress people with your cooking skills. They will think you slaved away in your kitchen for hours preparing this tasty treat.

Pssssst....want in on a little secret?

*whispering* It's no bake!

It only takes about half an hour to whip up. You can make it as individual tarts or as one large cheesecake.

Peanut Butter Toblerone Cheesecake

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Oreo baking crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 pks (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar

2 bars (100 gr each) Toblerone milk chocolate (or dark chocolate)

3 cups thawed Cool Whip

Directions

Mix crumbs and butter. Press into a 9 inch springform pan - or individual tart pans - or a large tart pan. Refrigerate for 10 minutes while you prepare cream cheeese layer.

Beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar until smooth and creamy. Chop one of the Toblerone bars fairly fine, stir into cream cheese mixture. Gently fold in 2 cups of the Cool Whip.

Spoon over crust. Refrigerate for about an hour, until firm.

I made a large tart pan to bring to the office and had enough left over for 2 single serving tart pans.

Break up reamaining Toblerone bar and place in microwave safe bowl. Place remaining 1 cup of Cool Whip in bowl with Toblerone. Microwave approx 30 seconds, or until chocolate is melted. Stir until well mixed and smooth. Pour over cheesecake. Chill until ready to serve.

Carefully remove from springform or tart pan and place on serving tray.

Like chocolate? Like peanut butter? Like Toblerone? Like Oreo crusts?

Then this is definitely the dessert for you.

Just don't eat too much and explode your heart.

You've been warned.

Pecan Praline Cheesecake Cookies

I was feeling a bit smug today.

See...I invented a cookie.

Yep. Totally came up with it on my own.

This makes me a super genius. Granted, not a very modest super genius but still a super genius.

Then I made the mistake of going on Pinterest and looking around for some cool food ideas.

Here is a little hint for you - never compare yourself to someone else. There is always someone better than you. It took the wind out of my sails to see all of the incredibly inventive food ideas that I, in a million years, would never have come up with.

This made me pouty and, honestly, turned me into a baby.

Then my mom came into the kitchen, not knowing anything about my whole pouty story, and said, "Hey, where did those cookies come from?"

I replied, "I made them. I was just trying something new."

To which she replied, "You can't give any of those away. They are delicious. I think they are the best cookie I have ever eaten."

Sometimes moms know just what to say.

Pecan Praline Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients

Praline

4 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp light corn syrup

1 Tbsp butter
1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (or almonds or walnuts)

Cookies

3/4 cup butter, room temp

1 brick (8 oz) cream cheese, room temp

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda

1 praline recipe (above)

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions

Praline - Line a small cookie tray with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place all praline ingredients, except pecans, into a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until mixture starts to bubble. Stir in pecans. Cook and stir for about 5 more minutes, until nuts are golden. Pour onto to prepared cookie tray and cool completely. You can place in the fridge to speed the process.

When cool, transfer to a cutting board and chop fairly fine with a knife.

Cookies - Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. Stir in flour, cornstarch, and baking soda until incorporated. Stir in the pecan praline.

Place the graham cracker crumbs in a small bowl.

Scoop the cookie dough up using a small (or medium) cookie scoop. Scrape the dough so it is even in the scoop. Dip the flattened edge into the graham cracker crumbs and then place, crumb side down, onto the prepared tray. (If you don't have a cookie scoop - pinch off ping pong ball sized pieces of dough and press only one side of the ball into the crumbs. Place crumb side down on the cookie tray.)

Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes. (I did 10 minutes, rotated the cookie sheet, then 8 to 10 minutes more) Edges should be golden brown.

Remove from heat, let sit on cookie tray for about 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to finish cooling. 

I was trying to mimic a piece of cheesecake with these cookies. The cream cheese flavor shines through and the addition of the graham crumbs on the bottom is like the crust on a real cheesecake.

Yay! Success!

 Lesson learned today.

Be proud of your accomplishments! There might be people out there who are better at some things than you are BUT there is no one out there better at being you than you.

If you are going to compare yourself to someone then compare yourself to who you used to be. I bet the person you are now is even better than the person you used to be.

Now, excuse me... I have some more cookies to eat. :)

Layered Lemon Dessert

Here is the criteria you have to meet to be able to make this dessert.

If you don't meet the criteria then you aren't allowed to make it.

I'm serious.

Are you ready?

Number 1 - You have to love lemon. Not like it. LOVE it. If you just like it then you won't fully appreciate the lemony lemon-ness of this dish.

Number 2 - You have to have patience because you will dirty up a lot of dishes. Unless you enjoy doing dishes... then don't worry about it.

Number 3 - You have to have someone around to share this with. I say this for your own health. If you make this and don't share it then you will eat it all yourself and, while it would be great at the time, it would just not be good for you in the long run.

Do you meet the criteria?

Okay.... then carry on...

Layered Lemon Dessert

(slightly adapted from Taste of Home )

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/2 cups cold water

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

3 Tbsp butter

 grated peel and juice from 2 large lemons

(about 2 tsp grated peel and 1/2 cup juice)

Crust

1 cup  flour

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/2 cup butter, cold

Cream Cheese Layer

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 cup icing sugar

Pudding Layer

2 cups cold milk

2 packages (3.4 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp vanilla

1 tub (about 3 cups) Cool Whip, thawed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Lemon Filling - In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; gradually stir in water until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Slowly stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks to temper the eggs; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 1 minute. Remove from the heat; stir in butter and lemon peel and juice.

 Refrigerate until cool.

Crust - In a bowl, combine flour and nuts. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press firmly onto the bottom of prepared 9 X 13 pan.  Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Layer - In a bowl, beat cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth; carefully spread over crust.

Spread with cooled lemon mixture.

Pudding Layer - In another bowl, beat milk and pudding mixes on low for 2 minutes; beat in vanilla. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over lemon layer.

Its a little thick - it helps to drop spoonfuls of the pudding mix over the lemon layer and then gently join the drops together.

Spread with remaining whipped topping.

Chill for at least 4 hours before cutting.

So light and fluffy and lemony. 5 layers of deliciousness.

This reminded me of Sue and my Sex in a Pan recipe. Except, obviously, being lemon instead of chocolate. This really is a nice finish to a heavy meal.

The only issue I had with this was that I didn't cook the lemon custard quite long enough and it was a little runny. It would have been perfect had I made this in individual serving dishes because then being runny wouldn't have mattered.

It still cut well and I was able to serve it BUT the lemon layer kind of oozed out as it sat on the plates.

Not to worry though, we managed to still eat the whole pan of it.

Double Chocolate Muffins (Low cal)

I am so excited to blog about this recipe you just don't even know.

This chocolatey bit of heaven is only 48 calories!

I'm not even lying.

Just look at it......

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee......I'm so happy right now!

Okay. Sue thinks I may be a little too excited about this recipe.

She just doesn't understand.

This is a delicious, LOW CALORIE, chocolate treat that doesn't taste like cardboard or some kind of funky nastiness. This actually tastes like ooey, gooey chocolate amazingness. It makes 24 small muffins but you could easily make 12 large muffins and still be under 100 calories per muffin.

Crazy, right?

Double Chocolate Muffins

(slightly adapted from Dashing Dish )

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup oats

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch sea salt

1/2 cup Sugar Twin Brown Sugar (or other sugar substitute like Splenda)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

3 egg whites

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (0 fat)

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 (12 cup) muffin pans with paper cupcake liners.

In a food processor (or blender), process oats until well ground. Add remaining dry ingredients and pulse until combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (egg whites, applesauce, vanilla, Greek yogurt, and hot water).  Add all at once to dry ingredients and process until mixture is smooth.

Place approximately 3 Tbsp of mixture into each muffin cup (for 24 muffins). Evenly sprinkle chocolate chips over each muffin. 

Bake at 350 for 12 - 20 minutes. Time will depend on size of muffins. They are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely on wire racks.

I entered all the ingredients into Fitday and this is what the nutritional info came up as:

Calories - 48

Fat - 0.8

Carbs - 7.8

Protein - 2.6

This differs a tiny bit from what the Dashing Dish had posted. They had 58 calories per muffin if you made 24 muffins. I'm going to go with what Fitday told me as Fitday has been pretty accurate thus far. Plus, I like the 48 calories better :)

So.....

yeah....

Are you doing a happy dance yet?

No? Well, that's just because you haven't made these yet.

Trust me, after you make these and taste that ooey gooey chocolatey goodness you will be doing your happiest happy dance.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So exciting.

I love it when healthy and tasty combine.


Stop by Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons for some cute links.

Giant S'more Cake

What better way to celebrate a birthday or anniversary than with a cake?

A delicious giant s'more cake to be exact.

Sue and I are celebrating our one year anniversary here at joandsue.blogspot.com!

Yay!

I can't believe it has been one year already.

Sue and I have had so much fun sharing recipes and ideas and photos. Hearing from people that have tried our recipes is probably what we love the most.

We wanted to thank all of our readers who have joined us this year and we hope that you will continue to follow us and support us as we continue to grow and improve our blog.

Please join us on Facebook  - our page is named joandsue.blogspot.com

Or join us on Twitter - search @joandsue

Or join our blog here by clicking the button on the side of the blog that says "join this site"

And please feel free to pin any of our photos on Pinterest. You can follow us on Pinterest by searching - joandsue.blogspot.com

Now that that is out of the way...let's get to the cake.

This really cool cake was made for a birthday. No, not our 1 year blogiversary, although it would have been a great choice for that.

Nope. It was made for a co-worker's daughter's 8th birthday. She was having a camping themed party so what better cake to have then a Giant S'more Cake!

Totally looked like a huge s'more!

Giant S'More Cake

(Slightly adapted from Sweet Tooth)

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Layer

1 cup butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

pinch salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Chocolate Layer

1 boxed brownie mix

ingredients listed on box

Marshmallow Layer

2 jars Marshmallow Creme or Fluff

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray, line with parchment paper, and then lightly spray again. Set aside.

Graham Cracker Layer - In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beatind well between additions. Beat in vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, and baking soda.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Use a spatula to spread evenly in prepared pan.

Before spreading.

After spreading.

Bake at 350 for 40 - 60 minutes. Toothpick inserted near center should come out clean and top should be golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Use parchment paper to lift cooled cake out of pan. Set aside.

Chocolate Layer - Prepare brownies as per box instructions in a 9 X 9 pan that has been lined with parchment paper and lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake as per box instructions. Remove from oven and let cool. Use parchment paper to lift cooled brownie out of pan. Set aside.

Marshmallow Layer - No prep needed, except to remove the lids and paper seal from the jar!

To assemble cake -

Cut your graham cracker cake to roughly 9 X9. Then, using dental floss or a serated knife, cut cake in half horizontally. You will end up with 2 equally thin 9 X 9 "graham crackers".

Place the bottom of the cake on a serving platter as per photo below.

Trim about half an inch off of each side of the brownie so you end up with a "piece of chocolate" that is a little smaller than your "graham cracker".  It should be about 8 X8.

Then, carefully spoon enough Marshmallow Creme/Fluff over the brownie to nicely cover it. You may or may not need to use both jars entirely.

I ended up using one and a half jars.

Get out your handy dandy kitchen torch and torch the heck out of the marshmallow. You want it to be nice and brown and toasty, just like a real s'more.

It will ooze over the side a little but this just makes it look more like a real s'more.

Allow the marshmallow to set for a few minutes before carefully placing the other half of the graham cracker cake on top, cut side down.

Use a straw to poke holes in rows on top to mimic a real graham cracker. Cut an indent in the cake, without going all the way through the cake, right in the middle to look like the perforation in a graham cracker.

Be prepared to enjoy delicious s'morey goodness.

We piped a birthday greeting on top for the birthday girl.

We also made a few giant S'more Pops to decorate the serving platter to make it a even more s'morey. My Coworker, Angel, was kind enough to let me steal this photo from her so I could share Isabel enjoying her cake.

Okay. Now you have it. The perfect cake for your next campout or campout themed party.

Once again, thank you all for supporting Sue and I in our first year of blogging.

We look forward to hearing more from you and, if you have any ideas or suggestions or things you would like to see, please-please-please let us know.

For some fun links, check out - Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons.
More great links at  - My Turn (for us).
Don't forget about - Six Sisters' Stuff and Carole's Chatter too!

Fruity Oatmeal Bars

Want to look like a super genius to all of your friends?

I have an super-de-duper easy way to do that.

Make this square.

Really.

It's soooooooooo easy but it tastes sooooooooooo good.

Only 4 ingredients.

True story.

From the photos I bet you are thinking it was way more complicated than 4 ingredients.

Nope.

Fruity Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix

2 1/2 cups oats

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 can pie filling (Approx 2 cups)

(I used Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling)

That's it. That's all you need.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray, line with parchment paper, and spray lightly again. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, oats, and butter until well combined. Press 1/2 of the crumbs firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Spread can of pie filling evenly over crust.

Sprinkle remaining crumbs evenly over pie filling. Press down lightly..

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until top is lightly brown.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into squares.

I realize using a cake mix is "cheating" but here's my reason why it's not really - you are using it as an ingredient in a recipe. You aren't making a cake out of it.

See....not cheating.

Okay...the can of pie filling is cheating.

I admit to that.

But, if it makes you feel better, you are totally free to whip up your own pie filling and use that instead.

As it stands, this only takes 30 minutes from start to finish. Granted, that's not including the time it takes to cool but you see what I mean.

Technically you could serve this warm with some ice cream if you were in a hurry BUT it won't hold together quite as well.

Pop over to Heatherly Loves for some fun links.