Blueberry Key Lime Cheesecake

A few weeks ago I had a luncheon for the sisters that I visit teach. I really wanted to do something to let them know how much I love and appreciate them. I was looking for a menu that was yummy and pretty. I found just that on the Woman’s Day Website and a few other places. Here is our menu:

• Broccoli Cheese Braid
• Spinach Salad
• Blueberry Key Lime Cheesecake
• Sparkling Grape Juice

We didn’t start with dessert at our luncheon but I am going to with my menuJ. Doesn’t it just get your taste buds a salivatin? I didn’t get pictures of my decorations L so sad.

I just got so excited when the sisters came that I forgot. I will be posting the Broccoli Chicken Braid tomorrow. Needless to say we all left with full tummies and full hearts!

BLUEBERRY KEY LIME CHEESECAKE

• Active Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 5 hours

INGREDIENTS

Crust

• 10 shortbread cookies (we used Keebler Sandies Simply Shortbread)
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Filling

• 3 bricks (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp grated lime zest
• 1⁄3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 drop liquid green food color (optional)

Blueberry Topping
1⁄4 cup sugar
11⁄2 tsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp water
3 cups blueberries
1 Tbsp lime juice

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Spray an 8 x 3-in. springform pan with nonstick spray.

2. Crust: Process cookies in food processor to make fine crumbs. Add butter; pulse to blend. Press onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack.

3. Filling: In large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and sour cream. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl and beater once or twice. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until blended. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth and creamy; pour over crust.

4. Bake 60 minutes or until cake is almost set and center still jiggles slightly when touched. Remove to a rack; cut around outside edge of cake to loosen from sides. Cool on rack 3 hours (cake will sink as it cools). Cover and refrigerate up to several days.

5. Topping: In small saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and water until blended. Add 1 cup blueberries; mash berries well with a potato masher. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a full boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Stir in lime juice and another 1⁄2 cup blueberries. Spread on top of cheesecake; top cheesecake with remaining 11⁄2 cups blueberries. Refrigerate until serving.

Hello Dollies

While attending Utah State University my sister, Caprece, and I worked for the university catering department. It was a wonderful experience in which we learned a great deal about food and entertaining. It was also the perfect place for struggling college students because of the "free food" perk. Everyday we were permitted to eat what was termed leftovers. The leftovers were actually items that hadn't sold that day and wouldn't be fresh the next. One of our most favorite "leftovers" of all were the Dolly Madisons. She and I dreamed of them long after our college life ended with marriage and graduation. Nearly 10 years later she found the recipe. I am not sure if she ever tried the recipe but today when my 3 year old had a little sweet tooth I pulled out her tried and trues and found the recipe. I just had to have a little of this cookie full of nostalgia and rich gooey yumminess. Try it for yourself...you won't be able to stop with one.

Adapted from recipe by Debbie Ruse

1 package graham crackers (crushed)

1 stick of butter melted in 9 x 13 pan

Spread crackers over butter.

Sprinkle on top:

1 package milk chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet for a contrast with the gooey rich cooked sweetened condensed milk)

1 cup coconut

1 cup nuts (I used pecans just like the USU one)

Pour 1 can Borden's sweetened condensed milk over all. Bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. Cut around edges as soon as cool. Cut into squares. Refrigerate until firm.

FRUIT PIZZA

Caprece was a great collector of recipes. She was always on the look-out for a good one and she passed the bug on to me. Matt allowed me to copy all of her recipes a couple of years ago and they get plenty of use!

This is a recipe from her collection. Once while visiting our cousin in Kentucy she served this light refreshing dessert and Caprece had to have the recipe. I decided to make it after suffering from a craving for a dessert with fresh fruit. It is easy to make and tastes wonderful.

From Caprece's collection by Raina

Ingredients and Instructions:

CRUST

4 cups flour

2 sticks of butter

1/2 cup pecans

1 cup brown sugar

Mix all together. grease texas sheet pan and spread evenly over the pan(will not be smooth). Pat with hands. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 min(the longer it cooks the harder it gets so cook it to desired firmness) I like it on the softer side so I cook it for 6 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

TOPPING

1 large tub cool whip

2 8oz cream cheese

1 small box powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese then add coolwhip. Add sugar 1 cup at a time and mix well. Spread over cooled crust. Top with seasonal fruits. I used strawberries, blueberries and kiwi on this one.

Cake Truffles

I guess my family really liked these because this lone truffle is all that is left within a few short hours of making them.

To make these I used the "Red Velvet Cake Balls" recipe from Bakerella. I did not have a red velvet cake mix so I used a chocolate cake instead. I have to say that I definitely prefer the red velvet cake to the chocolate on chocolate, but they were still yummy.

Quadruple-Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Chocolate: luscious, lumpy. load of love......

I am not sure exactly what it is about chocolate but whatever it is...I need it.

Ooey gooey is a definate must in a brownie for me. I have been on a quest to find the perfect ooey gooey brownie recipe and up until yesterday had been sadly dissappointed in my search. This recipe is adapted from a recipe in Gourmet September 1992. It is the exact dark, luscious, ooey gooeyness I have been craving. You gotta eat it with a spoon. Go ahead take a taste for yourself.

Yield: Makes 24 brownies

• 4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces fine-quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt the bittersweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate with the butter, stirring until the mixture is smooth, remove the bowl from the heat, and let the mixture cool until it is lukewarm. Stir in the sugar and the vanilla and add the eggs, 1 at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in the salt and the flour, stirring until the mixture is just combined, and stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into a well-buttered and floured 13- by 9-inch baking pan, smooth the top, and bake the mixture in the middle of a preheated 350°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it. Let the mixture cool completely in the pan on a rack and cut it into 24 bars.

Strawberry Cake

It is a tradition in my family that we get to pick what kind of cake we want for our birthday and Aunt Lisa, Lisa Condrey to many of you, makes it for us.  This is a frequently requested one by family members.  One bite and you will know exactly why.  My birthday is less than a month away and this recipe has me clicking my heels and chanting "There's no place like home".

Ingredients

1 white cake mix     1 pkg. Strawberry Jello,sm

¾ cup oil                   ½ cup warm water

4 eggs                         1 pkg. Frozen strawberries

                                     (crushed)

Directions 

Mix eggs and oil.  Add cake mix.  Dissolve Jello

In the ½ cup warm water and add to the mix.

Add ¾ of the crushed strawberries.  Bake in

Three layers in a 350 degree oven for 35-40

Minutes.

 

Icing:

1 stick butter

1box powdered sugar(10X)

Remaining strawberries

Mix together the butter and sugar and add

Strawberries as needed until spreading consistency(I use ALL the strawberries).  At

This point I add 3 oz.cream cheese.