Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

I haven't taken a treat in to work in a long time. I brought home an empty plate, so I think these went over pretty well.

CRANBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS

1-1/2 cups oatmeal (quick cooking or old-fashioned)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar, divided
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 baking pan (I lined it with foil to make it easier to remove after baking).

To make crust:
In a bowl, combine flour, uncooked oats, 3/4 cup brown sugar and butter. Mix until crumbly. Reserve 1-1/2 cup crumbs for topping. Press remaining crumbs into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

To make filling:
In a bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. Pour over crust.

To make topping:
In a bowl, combine remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and cranberry sauce. Spoon over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool at room temperature. Refrigerate before cutting into squares.

Jello Poke Cake

This is an easy cake to make on a hot summer day. No matter how many times I make this cake, it never tastes as good as a friend of mine (who will know who she is when she reads this). Guess something always tastes better when someone else makes it.

JELLO POKE CAKE

1 box yellow or white cake mix
1 small box strawberry Jello (can use any flavor you like)
1 small tub Cool Whip
1 small box vanilla instant pudding mix

Bake cake according to package directions in a 9 x 13 pan. Poke holes in the cake with a fork or with the end of a wooden spoon to make holes. Boil 2 cups of water and dissolve Jello. Pour over cake. Refrigerate 30 minutes or so. Mix dry pudding mix with Cool Whip to make frosting. Frost cake. Refrigerate. You can make the frosting with a large Cool Whip and it will be a bit fluffier -- the smaller one makes more of a dense frosting.

Family Reunion Cakes

We recently had a family reunion and I took a couple of bundt cakes as I had to travel a ways and these would hold up well. This picture is of a coconut pound cake and I also made a hummingbird cake (not pictured).

BUTTERMILK COCONUT BUNDT CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla (or can use coconut flavoring)
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup finely chopped pecans (toasted)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt or tube pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs at medium speed until well blended. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla (or coconut flavoring), beating well until well combined. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Gently stir in the coconut and pecans and blend well.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake 60-65 minutes or until tested done.

You can glaze this cake with a glaze made of 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla or coconut flavoring. To make the glaze bring the ingredients to a rolling boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour glaze over cake while it is still warm and in the pan until the syrup has been absorbed before removing from pan.


HUMMINGBIRD CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped bananas

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not beat.) Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup pecans, and bananas.
Pour batter into a 10-cup bundt pan that has been greased and floured. (Can use 3 layer pans or 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes (25 to 30 minutes for 9 x 13 or layer pans). Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

This can be frosted with a basic cream cheese frosting if you like.

Cooking Magazines

Carla at Chocolate Moosey wrote about receiving a copy of Taste of Home Magazine from me. It seems the only magazines I subscribe to lately are cooking magazines. I think all of Reiman Publications are exceptional - no advertising. I also subscribe to Paula Deen's magazine which I think is one of the most beautiful cooking magazines around and the recipes are very good. I also subscribe to Rachael Ray's magazine which is pretty good and Bon Appetit (which was a free subscription and nice to look at, although I doubt I'd make too many of the recipes. )

Recently I got a postcard for a trial issue of Taste of the South. I'm definitely going to subscribe to this one. I think I'm starting to look at magazines more than cookbooks because of the pictures.

Layered Mocha Brownie Dessert

LAYERED MOCHA BROWNIE DESSERT

1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix (or recipe of home made brownies)
1 3/4 cups cold milk
2 (3.3 ounce) packages instant white chocolate pudding mix (I only had chocolate on hand)
4 teaspoons instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons warm water
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee bars, chopped

Either make a pan of home made brownies or prepare brownies according to package directions. Bake and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch cubes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and pudding mix until mixture begins to thicken. Dissolve coffee granules in water and stir into pudding mixture. Fold in whipped topping.
(This mixture is thick since you don't use all the milk called for -- kind of like a mousse).

In a glass serving bowl, layer one-third of brownie cubes, one-third of pudding mixture and one-third of candy. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used. Chill 30 minutes in refrigerator before serving.