Recipes

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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

So delicious!!! The Best I Ever Made

This Chocolate Chip or Key Lime Cheesecake it is one of my favorite desserts and I love it because it is easy to make and the recipe makes two.  So, automatically you can share the joy of a yummy cheesecake with a neighbor or have one for the freezer.  I also like that the recipe uses ready-made pie shells that have the bubble plastic covers which makes for easy transporting or freezing.  I will have to say it is not the prettiest dessert I  have ever made but the taste and texture is really wonderful.  Of course, you can dress it up with whipped cream and fresh fruit.  I took these pictures hastily because I was serving the cheesecake for our small group meeting.  I do really well taking pictures as I go along preparing and cooking, but then I always seem in a hurry to take the finished pictures because we are always ready to eat what I have cooked.  

This dessert would be great to take to your Easter Celebration.  Adults and kids love it and so do our Apples of Gold team and students. We serve the cheesecakes, for 34 people, for week #5 but we make them on week #2 and put them in the freezer.  So you could do the same.  One year for Christmas I made lots of them and gifted my neighbors with a cheesecake.  I can’t tell you how many I have made over the years.  I hope you will try it and I bet it will become a favorite “go to” recipe for you.  It could become your signature recipe.  Who doesn’t love cheesecake right, especially with chocolate.   Enjoy!!!  It will be “The Best You Ever Made.”

Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Batter poured into pie shells and ready for the oven. You choose shortbread or chocolate crust.

 

Cheesecake – Chocolate or Key Lime

Easy to make cheesecakes- Delish- Makes 2
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Servings: 6
Course: Dessert
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 4 8 ounces packages of cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 5 eggs for chocolate or 7 for key lime
  • 1 1/2 cups mini-chocolate chips (semi sweet) for chocolate
  • 7 to 9 ounces Key Lime Juice for key lime
  • 1 teaspoon Kahlua (optional)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 Shortbread Keebler Pie Shells, or Graham for Key Lime – Chocolate Keebler Pie Shells if making Chocolate.

Method
 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees
  2. Cream the cream cheese and sugar till fluffy
  3. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well each time
  4. Add vanilla and Kahlua; stir well
  5. For Chocolate: Add Chocolate chips; stir well
    For Key Lime: Add key lime juice; stir well. It will be a thinner batter.
  6. Pour into shells
  7. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Check after 45 minutes for doneness. (Will crack on top). If browning too much before done cover with foil.
  8. Cool and refrigerate; Serve cold topped with cool whip/whip cream. Garnish with strawberries, blueberries or fruit of your choice.

Notes

To Freeze:  Wrap cooled cheesecakes tightly in plastic wrap and foil.
To Serve if Frozen:  Thaw in refrigerate – serve cold.
Tidbit Tips:  The top will crack so use cool whip to decorate.
I love this recipe because it make 2 cheesecakes.   Having one in the fridge is great
for a last minute dessert.   Enjoy!
      
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Popcorn Scramble

I don’t even know where to start to tell you about this recipe.  It is one that my friend, Marcy Howard, has made for all of us for many years.  It is also one we teach and share in Apples of Gold.

If you ever make it, it will become one of your favorite recipes, especially in the fall.  You could become know for it, your signature recipe.  It makes a foil turkey roasting pan full so there is lots to share.  We just moved to a new house, new neighborhood  and new friends to meet so I made a batch to share with them..  You know by now I am all about making dishes for your family and having some to share. Spreading  JOY!!!

We love it when our students from Apples of Gold let us know when they make one of the recipes from the classes.  This is one they make over and over.  On lots of occasions it has been made for out-of-town guest to have in their hotel rooms when they come in town for events like weddings.  Marcy makes it for her hairdresser, for the women at the nail salon, her neighbors and recently she went to a family reunion, so of course she made Popcorn Scramble for all of them.  I know you can buy something similar but this recipe is so much better because there aren’t any ingredients in it that  you can’t pronounce –  always a good thing.   There is no  need for additives for preserving it because it is gobbled up so fast.  

As we think about Thanksgiving and all we are thankful for, I hope you will make a batch of Popcorn Scramble and give it to someone who brings Joy to your life or to someone who needs some Joy in their life.  May God Bless you and grant you PEACE, MERCY and JOY this Thanksgiving as you give thanks to Him the giver of all good things.  

Joy Always, Cissy   

  I would love to hear from you about how your family loved this recipe and where you shared it.  Also what are you thankful for this year?  Please leave a comment.  

Ingredients for Popcorn Scramble
Chemical Reaction when adding baking soda and vanilla
Bagged and ready to give to friend

Popcorn Scramble

Buttery, toffee popcorn snack with optional nuts
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Course: Snack
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 4 bags microwave popcorn – make sure to remove all un-popped kernels Orville Redenbacher Natural Light – Simply Salted 6.2 oz bags
  • 2 cups Cheerios
  • 2 cups Rice Chex
  • 1 cup Pecan pieces, optional
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup light or dark corn syrup – "Karo Syrup"
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Method
 

  1. Combine first four ingredients in a large foil turkey roasting pan; toss gently and set aside.
  2. Melt butter in large saucepan (non-stick if you have one); stir in brown sugar and corn syrup
  3. Bring to a boil over low heat stirring constantly
  4. Once boiling cook without stirring for 5 minutes
  5. Remove from heat
  6. Stir in vanilla and baking soda (A chemical reaction will happen as you are stirring in the vanilla and baking soda).
  7. Pour over popcorn mixture; stir until mostly coated
  8. Bake at 250 degrees for one hour stirring every 15 minutes
  9. Cool and bread apart and store in airtight containers like clear bags

Notes

Measurements for Rice Chex and Cheerios Cereal doesn’t have to be exact. Start with 2 cups each and then add more of each to fill the pan.
Tidbit Tip:  After popcorn has cooled in turkey pan place your arms around the pan and bend turkey pan in all directions to help break up the popcorn scramble for bagging.
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Yellow Squash Soup

 Usually I think of yellow squash in the summer, but I also think about them when there is a hint of fall in the air and knowing winter is right on its heels.  I always start making soup and chill.  This soup is so easy and so delicious.  Last week I shared a post about a Breast Cancer Luncheon that my best friend Marcy and I hosted.   We served this soup with cheese straws on the side.  It was a big hit and so many wanted the recipe I thought I really should put it on the blog.  So here you go!!!  We also make this for 65 people for our Celebration Dinner for Apples of Gold.  So it works great to double or triple the recipe.  We have people tell us they don’t like squash but they really like this soup.  So make it and they will eat it!!!  If you are like me you are watching what you eat and trying to make some of your tried and true recipes more healthy.  I used coconut milk instead of whipping cream and saved a lot of fat. It did not change the texture or the taste.  You can also adjust the Cayenne pepper to your taste.  If you like it spicy/hot add more but remember you will be adding some paprika on the top.  I hope you will make this “warm me up” Yellow Squash Soup and make an extra batch to bring joy to someone you know.

Yellow Squash Soup

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Servings: 10
Course: Soup
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and sliced
  • 2 carrots sliced, I used 2 cups pre-cut carrots
  • 4 cups yellow squash sliced, about 8 squash
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon red (cayenne) pepper or to taste
  • 1 cup whipping cream, or 1 can coconut milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • Paprika for garnish

Method
 

  1. In a 4-quart saucepan, melt butter
  2. Add onion, sauté until wilted and transparent, about 5 minutes
  3. Add potatoes, carrots and squash; toss to coat with butter
  4. Add flour all at once; stir to combine
  5. Cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes, stirring
  6. Slowly stir in broth
  7. Season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper
  8. Cover, cook until all vegetables are fork tender, about 45 minutes
  9. Puree soup in batches in blender, food processor or with immersion hand blender in the pot
  10. When all soup has been pureed, return to soup pot
  11. Stir in cream or coconut milk. Taste for seasonings, adjust if necessary
  12. Heat through
  13. Stir in nutmeg; cook 3 to 4 minutes
To Serve
  1. Ladle hot soup in bowls. Sprinkle paprika onto top of soup and use a spoon to gently stir through soup creating an attractive marble patter,

Notes

To Store:  Soup base (before cream is added)  may be pureed, cooled and frozen up to 1 month.  Thaw base in refrigerator, bring to boil.  Reduce heat, add cream.  Enjoy!