Creamsicle cookies w/cheesecake center

I know I had hinted my next "ooey gooey butter cookies" installment would involve funfetti cake batter. That was my intention and then I made the creamsicle ones and decided to one up myself and add a twist...cheesecake filling. Ummm, Yes, Please. So, for now at least, funfetti must wait. Priorties, people...We all have them.




The recipe contains the usual suspects required of these decadent cookies: butter, cream cheese and cake mix. The change up this time involved Orange Dream cake mix. I loved the dough(especially after it sat in the freezer for an hour; yums in my tums!) but was, at first anyways, not completely sold on the actual cookie...then came the next morning and I was officially riding the bandwagon.



The real sign that these were quite tasty came from Wiki, he ate three of them. Now I am sure that some of you are thinking "3 cookies is a good sign?" in my house, YES! The hubs is being participatory in a low carb lifestyle. I know- he's that person(insert exasperated eye roll) I mean I am a carbatarian. Surely there's such a thing? Right? I am also a meatarian. What I am not is a vegetarian...I feel your judgements and they don't hurt my feelings. haha anyways, the point is he ate the first one, paused and said "Yum, those are good. Wow, really good, these are the best so far." Score one for me!



time to get down to the nitty gritty

ingredients:
cookies
8 oz cream cheese(room temp)
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 box orange cake mix
1 box confectioners sugar
cheesecake filling
4 oz cream cheese(room temp)
3 tbs cheesecake flavored pudding
thick dough


directions

 In a large bowl mix the cream cheese & butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, then the vanilla and finally the cake mix. Cover & refrigerate for at least two hours. In a smaller bowl fork mix the cream cheese(for the filling) & the pudding till it's the taste you desire, chill for two hours also(at least, can stay longer if you like.) Preheat oven 350' Take a tbs size of dough and spread out in your palm, then add a tsp size of the filling to the middle and wrap the dough around the filling until it forms a ball. Roll the ball around in confectioner's sugar and bake for 10-12 min. The cookies will have a gooey center. You can cook for a few minutes more if you like a "cakery" texture, but I prefer this way.I made some without the center and they were just as scrumptious, if you wanted to skip the extra step.
perfect blend of oj and cream

warm and gooey

Sparkling Raspberry 'Sicle

Yes, another adult beverage. True story, I have a slight affinity for yummy, fruity drinks, the kind that looks as good as it tastes...or at least has a delish sounding name.  I can't have bourbon ALL the time(sad faced) I have to be girly every once in a while.

Anyhoo, a while back my friend, Michelle, was having a baby shower and I was asked to come up w/a tasty concoction, only one demand: all PINK. Yep, twin baby girls. I needed to make something that could also easily be adapted into virgin style. I wanted to make it "punchish"(is this a word, no? remind me to care) What makes a typical baby shower punch...well typical? Sherbet. C'mon now, everyone has had it. Or at least everyone in the South has and isn't that what counts;) 

Raspberry lemonade, vanilla ice cream, sparkling raspberry wine and/or sprite. These are what made the cut. The plan was to put half the cartons of sherbet/ice cream in two punch bowls and in one top w/half the sprite and the other the sparkling wine. and I say the plan because...

Lily and Grace had other plans, ones that included being born. over two.months.early. The shower was scheduled for St. Patty's Day. and Lily and Grace decided being identiacal twins wasn't enough...they needed to be Irish twins too. haha 

Due to my overabundance of drink ingredients and meager amounts of  fridge space, I drew upon the conclusion that I should probably make myself three one. They turned out rather good, as in, yes, please, I will have another...just to make sure it wasn't, you know, a fluke. Gotta cover all those bases around here.

Anyways, here is what I came up with...

ingredients:
1 large scoop raspberry sherbet
1 large scoop vanilla ice cream
3 oz raspberry lemonade 
2 oz sparkling wine
1 oz sprite

directions
place sherbet/ice cream in glass, top w/lemonade, then with the sprite. Once the sprite settles top with the wine. Let it sit a few minutes and it will all intermingle w/one another and this my friends is when the goodness happens!

adaptions
you can use all sprite or all sparkling wine if you choose to do so. I also may or may not have...added a smidgen of whip cream vodka the second go round. And if I did do this...it was more than worth it, but don't ask me what a smidgen means.
if you want to make a large version, I would start out by putting half of the sherbet/ice cream in a punch bowl/pitcher and then top as w/half the bottles, to start with.

The summer is upon us, hopefully you guys can get a taste of one of these sooner rather than later.

Linking up with

The Randomness of Me

A friend had suggested doing a monthly post of random tidbits about myself for people who are just checking the blog out & deciding as to whether or not this is a blog they want to regularly follow.(ummm, obviously you should, unless you...are not awesome?) I was completely slightly skeptical at first, but since another friend mentioned it too...here we are.

10 things you never knew you wanted to know about me

1) the movie "Return to Oz" absolutely petrified me as a child, yet I watched it over & over
2) I have 3 brothers, I always, always wanted a sister. Now I am relishing "only girl" status
3) I watch sportscenter roughly 3-4 times a day
4) Spiders, bugs, lizards, rats; none of them scare me, snakes on the other hand...no words.
5) I am not the world's greatest driver, I am a woman; ergo, not my fault.
6) I love it hot, like 90' outside...below 70' is the WINTER.
7) My hubs is 14" taller than me, it makes me feel safe, except when he puts things away in the kitchen that I cannot reach, this inevitably leads me to be volatile;)
8) I am completely technologically in advanced, It's inherent in my nature to suffer from anything remotely electronic. Getting the cable box connected was akin to running a marathon for me.
9) I love travelling, this plays in my favor since we do it frequently. Frequently is actually an understatement of epic proportions.
10) It just took me 27 minutes to come up with these "random" thoughts. haha

Anyways, this week look forward to funfetti cookies, sparkling raspberry 'cicles, & crockpot creamed corn.

Till then, have a lovely week

Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip


As I have previously stated: I have strange food tendencies, they have no rhyme or reason. pumpkin is a prime example- not a fan by itself. Ech is my normal reaction. However, in conjunction with caramel I am suddenly enamored with it. I have made several different versions lately, but this was the one that pleased my palate the most. Plus, I heart cheesecake dips, there's a plethora of variations you can put together and constantly create new flavor combinations...and they're relatively simple to make. I find I adore simplistic dishes that taste complex.


The inspiration for this particular one came about due to my cousin's allergy to...chocolate. Yes, she's that person, ruining it for the rest of us;) haha Anyways, I was heading over for her lil fatty's first birthday and I wanted to make some desserts she could consume. I am a good cousin. Are you reading this, B? You know this is a factual statement.


There are two ways you can make this; one is homemade and the other is more Sandra Lee "semi homemade" style. Which, I feel that if it has more than three ingredients and I make it at home, there's zilch that's semi about it, but you know, that's just my two cents.


Ingredients
version one uses cool whip(if you can find french vanilla, get that) softened
version two uses 6 oz whipping cream
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 tbsp pumpkin spice 
2 1/2 tbsp caramel sauce

directions
***To make whip cream: pour cold whipping cream into bowl and mix till peaks begin to form, add the 1/2 tbsp pumpkin & 1/2 caramel sauce at this point, mixing thoroughly/cool whip version- add 1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice & 1/2 tbsp caramel to the cool whip, be careful to fold and not over mix, as this will remove the "whipped" factor from the cool whip. Next mix together 1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice, 1/2 tbsp caramel sauce and cream cheese together. Then fold the cream cheese mixture into the cool whip/cream and add remaining pumpkin and caramel, folding lightly to incorporate fully. Refrigerate for at least two hours.  Drizzle top w/caramel sauce.





I like to serve this with either graham crackers or apples. It's good any time of the year, but fall obviously is where this tasty treat packs a more powerful punch. 


Here are a few other pics from Ethan's Mickey Party. Hot Dog Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog. If you have kids...you more than likely got that.



 Please excuse the sideways pics...I'll fix when I get to my computer, For some reason this one won't let me rotate.

Fuzzy Navel Sangria

I am in a perpetual state of searching for that perfect twist to a cocktail. I was having a get together recently and was undecided whether to make sangria or fuzzy navel mimosas, due to the fact that I am an intelligent woman, I drew upon the conclusion to combine the two...Fuzzy Navel Sangria. All I can say is "You're Welcome" Yes, I am very humble. haha please grasp that written word is oft misconstrued, I like funny sarcasm, so please take it as such. or don't;)  A couple of summers ago I was at a gathering with some of my favorite ladies and they had prepared peach mimosas. Uber tasty and this is when I was introduced to the fabulous world of Arbor Mist Sparkling wines. Yes, I just read your minds "Arbor Mist? Is she kidding? " No ladies, I am, most assuredly, not. It makes yummy things become the yummiest of yums, pinky swear. Since some of you are still confused and now quite skeptical...notice I said sparkling wine, I'm not such a fan of their regular wine, but if I was...so what? Some of my friends are shaking in horror. I find this amusing. You know who you are...

Ingredients
1 bottle white wine
1/4 cup citrus vodka
1/2 cup O.J.
1 bottle sparkling peach wine)arbor mist or peachtini)
2 oranges
2 peaches

Directions
slice oranges and peaches and put in bottom of pitcher or punch bowl(save a few for glass garnish)
pour wine, vodka & O.J. into pitcher or punch bowl. Stir together and place in fridge for a few hours letting flavors meld together. Pour into glasses 3/4 full and top off with sparkling wine
then sit back and allow the happy juice to make your day that much better. Unless you made this for the Super Bowl as I did...it did nothing to make mine better. I'm sure this will tell you the team with which my heart lies.

If you can't find the sparkling peach you could always use 1/4 cup peach schnapps and any sparkling wine or champagne.

*Origin*

the mind of one Maddie and if someone else has done this before me...to this I say congrats, your genius came to fruition before mine;)

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

My ooey gooey butter cookie phase has been full throttle lately. My most recent adventure involved strawberry. I have odd tendencies when it comes to food.  Take for instance the fact that I hate coffee, but heart coffee ice cream. I adore strawberries, but wouldn't eat strawberry cheesecake if you paid me. I always cringe when I spy a pink cupcake b/c more often than not...it's strawberry(which is uber sad b/c pink is my favorite). This then, makes little sense, that of all the flavors of cake mix I've dabbled in to make these cookies...strawberry captured me the easiest. As I said: odd tendencies.  Oh well, I am a woman, it's inherent in my nature to not make any sense whatsoever. Moving on...


Ingredients
    1 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temperature
    1 stick butter, at room temperature
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 (18-ounce) box moist strawberry cake mix
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
DIRECTIONS-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the lemon juice. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10- 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired. 



 hope y'all enjoy these as much as I have. They're quite delightful and easily put you into a "springy" kinda mood. Especially when you've abstained from carbs for 2 weeks as I have. Yes, you read that right. 14 days of 25 carbs or less. Today was cheat day and c.h.e.a.t. I did. and guess what, my body hates me. Sugar is the evil one, why do I love it so. Now this week is 30-40 carbs a day. 12 of which will be chic fil a nuggets. hey, if I get them three meals a day...I'll still stay in my allotted amount. Hmmmmm?!?!haha kidding, or am I? only time will tell.

*Origin*
this is another of my adaption's of Paula Dean's Ooey Gooey Butter Cookie

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