Cream Cheese Cherry Pie Crumb Bar

so one night this week my friend had an excess of tasty dessert treats (I'm not sure how that happens, will power that I don't have perhaps) and I picked them up on the way home (because again, not going to turn down free treats)... Oh.My.God. so worth the calories... these were amazing little squares of awesome. Try them at your own risk (to your waistline).

She found the recipe at Brown Eyed Baker and you can see the link to the recipe here. But for your baking convenience, and mine, I thought it would be great to post it here.

this photo is from the
Brown Eyed Baker's Site

INGREDIENTS:

For the Crumb:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg

For the Filling:
24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (21-ounce) cans cherry pie filling

For the Powdered Sugar Glaze (optional):
½ cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

2. Make the Crumb: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter, and then the egg (the dough will be crumbly). Press half of dough into the prepared pan and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until light golden brown. Set on a wire rack to cool.

3. Make the Filling: In a separate large bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Using an offset spatula, spread the cream cheese mixture into an even layer over the crust. Spoon the cherry pie filling in an even layer over the cream cheese mixture. Crumble the remaining dough evenly over the cherry layer.

4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is light golden brown. Cool completely before adding the glaze.

5. Make the Powdered Sugar Glaze (if using): In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cream and vanilla extract. Add more cream if you want a thinner glaze, or more powdered sugar if you want a thicker glaze. Drizzle over the bars and allow to set.

6. The bars can be served at room temperature or chilled. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Aunt Josphine's Carrot Cake

Aunt Josephine’s Carrot Cake

Cake Ingredients:
• 3 Cups Packed Shredded Carrots
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple drained (save juice)

• 3 cups unsifted all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
• 5 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 cup chopped raisins 
Frosting Ingredients:
• ½ cup Butter
• 1 Box Powdered Sugar
• 8 Ounces Cream Cheese
• 4 Tablespoons pineapple juice


Directions:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease and flour cake pan
• Combine carrots and lemon juice in small bowl
• Squeeze as much juice as possible from pineapple
• Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, & allspice in bowl.
• Beat in oil until blended
• Mix in carrots
• Beat eggs in one at a time
• Stir in vanilla, coconut, nuts, raisins, and pineapple until well blended
• Pour batter into prepared pan
• Bake 1 1/2 hours or until cake springs back from sides of pan
• Cool cake on wire rack for 5 minutes 
• Remove from pan and cool
• Beat together all frosting ingredients until smooth and cover top of cake when cooled.


SIDE NOTE:  I chopped some of the left over walnuts from the bag and toasted coconut to top the cake, I think it was one of the best decisions (baking wise) I've ever made... it was AMAZING and possibly my favorite part of eating it. 

Oreo Buttercream Frosting

My grandmother's 81st birthday was this weekend, and my mom wanted it to be potluck style.  I was assigned to bring the birthday cake, which is awesome, because if I'm bringing anything to a potluck type party I want to bring desserts or an appetizer, I'm not usually too stoked on bringing a main course if I don't have to.  Grandma requested a chocolate cake, and the rest was left to my imagination.  I used a Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake box mix, but instead of using oil, I used butter, and instead of water, I used milk, and added a packet of chocolate instant pudding mix. These substitutions help the box cakes taste more homemade.  I wanted to do something different with the frosting than chocolate or vanilla, and I remembered the MOST AMAZING cupcake I had in Los Angeles, at a cupcakery called Crumbs, a few years back and it had a cookies and cream frosting.  I wanted to see if I could do something similar, so off to Google my fingers ran, until  I found the recipe that I was able to slightly modify to make the best frosting I've had in my whole life.  The original can be found here. 

This is the recipe I used (nearly identical to the link)

• 1 cup softened butter
• 3.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup finely crushed/packed Oreo pieces (I ground them up in the food processor, about a sleeve and a half of the regular Oreos )

·         Cream the butter for a few minutes until it is light (I had to stop the mixer a couple of times to clear the whisk beater)

·         Sift in the powdered sugar (I just dumped it in, couldn’t find the sifter, didn’t seem to make a difference)

·         Beat until entirely combined with the butter

·         Add vanilla and milk, beat for 3 minutes

·         Add crushed Oreos and mix well to combine

**add more milk to gain a thinner consistency, more sugar and/or Oreos to thicken

It was a complete hit... however, if I were to make it again I'd want to double the recipe. This was just enough to cover the cake, and I didn't have enough ingredients to make more to pipe on decorations to have a more finished look.