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Bars

Bars/ Bars/ Dessert

Pineapple Bars

Almost a pineapple pie!

I don’t know what you are doing if you are still home bound but when I bought all those groceries a couple of weeks ago to make post surgery meals I knew if I had flour, sugar, butter, chocolate and some fruits I could bake, bake, bake. And that is what I did. 

During this time I also experimented with a couple of recipes I’ve been wanting to try and I knew for a couple of weeks at least after surgery I would not be baking/cooking.

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Bars/ Bars/ Dessert

White Chocolate Raspberry Bars

Just in time for Valentine’s day.

Do you ever wonder how the first bar dessert was made? Maybe someone just got tired of making all those individual cookies and just pressed the dough into a pan and baked it and abracadabra a new dessert.

Well, this dessert came from my daughter; and the recipe came from a co-worker years ago. When I use to cater I could make this, cut into tiny little 1″-1 1/2″ squares (because it is so rich) and freeze and then pull out day of the party to thaw.

This is a great little “bite” to have in your freezer to serve to those friends that pop in for coffee or a cocktail in the afternoon.

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Bars/ Cookies/Bars/ Dessert

Nutty Toffee Peanut Butter Bars

Leftover candy put to use.

I have to admit that my first thought for a name of this bar was “leftovers” or “trash” but they are too good to be called leftover anything. I had candy left over from Christmas baking projects, Valentine’s Day projects and a ton off bags of candy I bought at “after Christmas” sale at the grocery. “Trash” because I should have thrown my candy away so I wouldn’t eat it; but who does that?

So with bags some Heath Chocolate bits, some mixed salted nuts and dark chocolate chips I just had to improve upon a basic Blondie Bar recipe. I thought i would start with a bag of mini Reeces Peanut Butter cups but they disappeared from my pantry, so I substituted 1/4 cup of peanut butter for part of the butter.

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Bars/ Cookies/Bars/ Dessert

Breckenridge Bars

In the beginning…. there were those who could ski… & and then some not meant for that sport.

Many, many, manyyyy years ago we went on our first ski trip with our neighbors Mary Jo and Randy (Overland Park, KS) to Steamboat Springs, CO. Of course the kids did well first trip out and by end of trip, the Isler’s were taking them on blue (maybe even black) slopes. Me, on the other hand, had my leg wrapped around a tree the first day and being stubborn like I was (am), refused help down the mountain by the ski patrol — now that would have been a little too embarrassing. And to make matters worse, I couldn’t ruin my first day, so the rest of the day I spend on the bunny slope being pulled up by a rope and making my way down the tiny little hill.

Needless to say, by the end of the trip I couldn’t put my leg on the ground because a piece of the cartilage was caught between the joint. So, did I ever ski again? Once? And after that I stuck to snow mobiles and shopping and now with two fairly new knees I would never attempt those slopes again.

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Bars/ Cake/ Dessert/ Morning Foods

Lemon “Goat” Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Nothing better with a cup of tea than this lemon coffee cake.

Something about the word “lemon” always makes me pucker. Several years ago after returning from Italy I decided I was going to make some
limoncello; we enjoyed it while there and I though how easy could that be to make. So, I go about gathering my ingredients which were a lot of lemons, sugar and vodka. I still think I had either cheap vodka or to0 high of a proof of vodka. Here’s what happened in my little experiment. I did the first stage which might have taken 20 days (not the link I gave you), then I strained it off and did something else to the mixture and I think I had to wait another 20 days. So the morning of the 40th day I couldn’t wait to try it and 8:30 in the morning I poured myself a shot. Wow, it was terrible. I ended up throwing it all away and just bought some at the liquor store.

You won’t throw away this this lemon cake. When I found this recipe at My Lovely Little Kitchen I notice the different cream cheese she used. So when I went to the store to get my ingredients I bought goat milk cream cheese not remembering that she used Greek yogurt cream cheese. I had never heard of either one. When I traced her recipe back to see where she got the idea I ended up at Two In The Kitchen and she had used regular cream cheese and looking further, I saw her recipe came from a fruit filled coffee cake recipe from a Better Homes and Garden book. Interesting how recipes evolve with each time they are baked.

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Bars/ Dessert

Cheesecake Brownies — The Best

I’m sorry, I’m prejudice, but these are the best cheesecake brownies I have ever put in my mouth!

I just got back from a trip to NYC with my husband and friends. We were celebrating our 40th and 25th wedding anniversaries and I really want to talk about everything we did and ate but I guess that will have to wait a few days until I catch up on things here.

I made these cheesecake brownies for a catering job I have this weekend. I have been making this recipe for at least 15  years and I feel like they are the best of the best brownies.

I have done them with the cheesecake topping, without the topping, with nuts only sprinkled on top, with nuts and chocolate chips sprinkled on top (my favorite way). And they still remain, one of my all-time favorite brownie recipes.

These are so truffle like you won’t believe it until you taste them. I have tried making the batter several ways. I have melted the butter and the chips together to add to the batter and I have also creamed the butter with the sugar and add to the batter. You need to try doing these both ways and find your favorite method. If you are like me, you will be standing with glass of milk, a potholder in hand and waiting for the oven timer to ring saying “eat me”.

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