S'mores Cheesecake

On Christmas Eve, as we all were finishing our last tamales, it occurred to Little E that no one had thought about a dessert. There is no worse tragedy than a dessert-less holiday meal in her mind so dinner quickly transformed into a brainstorming session. Collectively we listed the various ingredients we had in the kitchen and it became immediately apparent what had to be made: a S'mores Cheesecake. 

I am quite adept at figuring out how to make a recipe better, but that is only if I have a recipe to begin with. Little E, on the other hand, has a gift. She can just make things up as she goes along and it almost always results in something delicious. For example, this last minute S'mores Cheesecake. 

The one problem with her method is that the only recipe I can give you is mix some tofutti cream cheese with failed pomegranate chocolate truffles, pour into a graham cracker crust, and cover with marshmallows. Next time I'll make her write her process down so I have something a bit more concrete than a recipe that sounds like it should belong in The Biggest Cookie in the World.

Avocado and Tomato Sandwiches

Meet my lunch of the past six days. I know it's nothing particularly revolutionary, but right now I just can't get enough of it. Bagel, toffuti cream cheese, tomato, avocado, salt, and if I'm feeling adventurous, a bit of pepper. 

Pinwheel Cookies

The official name (and I use that term loosely considering this is a family recipe) of these are "Candy Cane Cookies," because the original recipe instructs the baker to intertwine the red and white dough into the shape of a candy cane before sprinkling with actual crushed candy canes and baking. However, for a myriad of reasons, one being that it is no longer at all close candy cane season, I am calling these pinwheel cookies.

You can dye the dough any color you'd like, or not dye it at all and treat it as you would sugar cookies. But considering the fast approaching February 14th holiday, I think it is still quite appropriate to use red food coloring. You could even make them into heart shapes rather than circles. Go on and get creative.

Apple Pie 2011

My family made the tough decision to cut down on the amount of pies we made for Thanksgiving this year. In the end we only made eight...for five people. At least we're getting closer to only having one pie per person.

My contribution, as it is every year, was an apple pie. It looked beautiful before I put it in the oven, but then I may have forgotten about it during that critical time between just undercooked and just starting to burn and it may have baked 5 minutes more than it should have. Luckily I saved it in time so that the crusts were the only inedible part. Which is fine, no one really likes crusts anyway.

Conveniently, I didn't take any pictures of the cooked, tiniest bit singed pie, so here are pictures of the uncooked pie, when it still had so much potential.

:: Recipe ::

A Sneak Peek

pictured left to right
apple pie filling :: unbaked apple pie :: crushed peppermint :: gingerbread house :: pinwheel cookies :: assorted holiday goodies :: festive candy wrappers :: tamales :: s'mores cheesecake :: a birthday dinner :: carrot cake :: banana splits