Peanut Butter & Oreo No Bake Cheesecake

This was one of those "let me look in the cupboard and see what I can whip up" 

and this was the end result.

and let me just say...it was freaking delicious. 

I was in Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago nannying and since I am the one that usually cooks(shocker;) I gave the girls a list of possible ingredients to have on hand that I could possibly make meals/desserts of. 

I came in a few days after they were already there(we were celebrating our ten year that weekend) and so they had already purchased everything. Funny enough they had peanut butter for the kids and oreos just to snack on.I opened the cabinet doors and thought for a few minutes before going with this rather simple idea. So this came completely by accident. and not my foreshadowing genius. Darnit.

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 pack cheesecake pudding

2 to 3 tbsp peanut butter

1/4 cup milk

1 cup crushed oreos

1 tub cool whip

pre made crust

. Mix cream cheese and cheesecake pudding together in bowl and add 1/4 cup milk. Stir to combine. Add in 2 tbsp peanut butter, stirring till fully incorporated and then add in  crushed oreos. Then stir in cool whip. Once completely mixed, pour into pre made crust. Place in freezer for at least an hour

If you have chocolate sauce, drizzle it as a topping and maybe some extra crushed oreos. If you had any reeces cups, you could probably add those in too.

And in case you were wondering...this is really fantastic for breakfast, pretty much straight up breakfast of champions. and maybe at 2:30 am in bed when everyone else is asleep.(right, E?)

Oh my gracious and for the the love of all things good...I just re read this and noticed I used the term cupboard in the intro paragraph. I am not sure if this is my country showing...or maybe 34 is older than I thought. Either way I chose to leave it as a reminder to myself... "dear self, you are cooler than that. Clean.it.up"

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Ashley & Jessica
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Strawberry Cheesecake Pudding Pops

It has officially happened...I have developed and addiction. it happens to be to pudding pops so I am not sure if I am more concerned that I cannot get a grip on my feigning or the fact that said addiction is that of a toddler...either way, I do not see stopping anytime soon.

I am pretty sure my favorite to date is this strawberry cheesecake version

I may have eaten all six by myself. but probably not. I am not saying, that is for sure.

Strawberry Cheesecake Pudding Pop

Ingredients

1 box strawberry cream pudding (use half the pack)

1 box cheesecake pudding (use half the pack)

2 cups milk

1/2 cup strawberries(chopped)

1 cup whipping cream(prior to being whipped)

or

1 container cool whip

(if you want to make this recipe using fresh whipping cream, make that first and have ready)

Directions

put both pudding packs in bowl and add milk, whisk for a minute or until it starts to thicken, but not too thick. Lightly fold in the whip cream or cool whip till completely incorporated, add in chopped strawberry.

Add to popsicle maker, you can spoon into it or do what I did, put it into a ziplock bag, snip the end off and pipe into the popsicle mold. I had to bang it on the counter to level the pudding out in the mold, but it works quite well. Place the stick in and freeze for at least 4 hours. I had to run it under hot water for a minute to get it out of the mold.

I had some left after I filled my molds and used it to make a dip. I just added a little cream cheese and whipped it together  put in fridge to set up for about an hour and serve with fruit or vanilla wafers.

Takes about 15 minutes to put these all together...and it is the best 15 minutes you will ever spend. Oh my gosh...these were so good. I need to make some more this week, but in the meantime...I will bring you pistachio pudding pops next.

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Carrot Cake Goodness Bars

This weekend was a blur, but I vaguely remember the blurs as being rather delightful, so I will take it.(for the most part anyways)

Friday started on a sour note. Wiki had to guest speak at Duke for some engineering students and got home late and I was starving. Once he got home we went out to eat only for my best friend to call me in an emergency to come watch her daughter while she went to the ER for dislocating her jaw. owie:( poor chica.

Then Saturday I had to drop off gifts and treats for my cousin's little guys' bday party before driving to Virginia  There are a bunch of other errands I had to run and then we were off. We got to the 'Burg around dinner time and hung out w/the parentals before I crashhhhed.

Easter Dress and yes, I dried my hair first;)

Yesterday we got our worship on at Church. and then headed home to get our grub on with the family.

Then my brother and sister in law joined us in watching some Madness of March and Duke lost. Blah. and by blah I mean...blah. and I felt so bad about the player from L'ville when he broke his leg. I wanted to cry for him. Poor guy.

Then Miss Aimee and I headed to watch The Host, if you're keeping up that marks the second time for me...I think I appreciated it better this time. If you haven't yet...

read. the. book.

But in the meantime, if you want a quick fix for your sweet tooth, try my twist on a classic Easter dessert.

Last week I made carrot cake whoopie pies and decided that on Easter, I would try my hand at making the carrot cake into a 'goodness bars' version...if you're unfamiliar with them, they're basically what some people refer to as chess bars, others call them ooey gooey bars and still others reference them as neiumn Marcus bars...I decided I should just put my spin on it and give it my own name;) haha

As I said in this post, I abhor carrot cake, the whoopie pies were pretty tasty and I enjoyed them...but I don't see myself making them frequently...these delicious bites are another monster all together...

Gasp, yes...that's a plain white napkin...guess what, still tastes good. haha

I get it, people, I finally get the carrot cake hype. I just like it in bar version better. Yum and I do mean yum.

                                                                     Ingredients:

                                                                           Cake:

1 box carrot cake mix

8 tbsp butter, melted

1 egg

Filling:

1 8 oz pkge of cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

8 tbsp butter, melted

16 oz powdered sugar

1 packet cheesecake pudding

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, butter and mix well with an electric mixer.  Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add the eggs and butter and beat together. 

Next, add the pudding packet and slowly add in the powdered sugar and mix well.  Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.  Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Linking up with
Mingle Monday

Whoopie Pie Wednesday: Carrot Cake

if you saw my picture yesterday...then you know this little venture was less than an overall success, but the few that I managed to salvage were pretty dearn tasty...so I suppose I will call it a draw;)

 I don't know about you, but I cannot believe Easter is this weekend, maybe it's the whole...still snowing in March thing that I can't get past. When my in laws in Boston are the same temperature as we are in Carolina..there's a problem! Hopefully these cookies can put some 'Spring' in your step;)

Supposedly, Carrot Cake screams Easter. Yea, it only whispered when I was around and so I never got around to trying it. It just seemed...healthy. haha and when you're younger, chocolate wins out. At least in my world it does. 

When I got older, I decided(albeit slightly tentatively) to try a big ole slice of carrot cake with a large dose of cream cheese frosting, just to see what the fuss was all about. Ummmm and if I am honest, no thanks. I will continue to abstain from this spring staple. 

But, I wanted to try these out as whoopie pies, just to see if a different texture could possibly placate me. and, while it is not my favorite, I actually enjoyed the few bites I was able to get after my floor got all hungry and got a majority of the cookies. 

Paired with cheesecake filling, these are the perfect treat for your Easter celebration...or any springtime get together!

Ingredients

1 box carrot cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup water

filling

1 packet cheesecake pudding

4-6 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream 

2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350'

Mix together dry cake mix, oil, eggs and water. I normally use a round TBSP to place on cookie sheet, but you can also use a round TSP to make them bite size and get more out of it. Bake 8-9 minutes ( you could substitute the water and use milk for softer cookies)

For the filling, cream softened cream cheese on low for 1 minute to get fluffy, add the pudding packet and 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream, beat until fully incorporated and slowly add the whipping cream and beat until peaks begin to form. or for alternate version, prepare the pudding w/1 cup cold milk, mix w/cool whip. Place in fridge for hour to let either version set up. 

and I know some of you are traditional,  so please feel free to just use the usual cream cheese frosting, bet that would be just as yummy!

Place a large dollop on one cookie and press another on top to spread the filling out.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bundles

There are a lot of ideas I conjure up on my own for this blog, but the majority are adapted(ran with) from other amazingly creative recipes. This is one of those times. I love me some Pinterest...ok, ok. More so I am addicted, but I can't help it. it's not my fault it's so fantastic! and one of the recipes I had seen so many times was for a sopapilla cheesecake, the picture that kept me drooling was originally from Real Mom Kitchen, but I discovered it via My Yellow Umbrella...both of which are fabulous blogs that I recommend you check out! 

and so I made it, and while it was quite tasty, mine looked no where near as utterly mouth drooling watering as that one did and I admit, I try not to serve ugly food. Sometimes while doing this blog, that's the one thing I feel holds me back...some of the pictures people put on their blogs blows my mind and I get nervous and feel inadequate...then I get over and blog anyways. haha but, I did find an answer to my problem, I just made individual "bundles" and voila, problem solved. or as solved as I'm gonna get it. My food tastes good, and that's as good as it's gonna get;)

Ingredients
2 packages crescent rolls
8 oz pumpkin cream cheese, softened(if you can't find it, check my notes section)
1 package cheesecake pudding mix, dry
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp butter, melted
cinnamon sugar 
pumpkin pie spice(optional)

Directions
unroll crescent rolls, separate and lay flat on pan. Mix together cream cheese, pudding mix and heavy whipping cream till stiff peaks appear. Place a tbsp of the pumpkin mixture and place on the "fat" end of the crescent roll, roll up as you normally would. Brush the tops w/butter and the cinnamon sugar and PP spice. Bake as directed. let cool for about 15 min and enjoy.

Notes***If you can't find pumpkin cream cheese, there are a few options. You could add dry pumpkin pudding mix to the mixture( I found this at the inner depths of Hell Walmart, just add an extra 1/4 cup of whipping cream. You could also probably use 1/2 cup pumpkin pie mix, I haven't done that so I cannot guarantee how it would come out.

and if you have extra, put in the fridge to set up for an hour and use as a dip, with either graham crackers or apples. There you go, folks...two treats in one, you're welcome!

I can also say these are tasty as a breakfast option with a coffee(or if you're me, a Dunkachino)

Whoopie Pie Wednesday:Pumpkin Cheesecake

yum, people, yum.  Pumpkin, yes, please. cheesecake? Always...combined, even. better! That's pretty much all I can say about these. And there are a few different ways you can make these, so pay attention and make accordingly...

Ingredients
version 1
pumpkin cookie mix
and whatever ingredients the package calls for, make cookies and cool.
version 2
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
filling
version 1
cheesecake pudding
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup whipping cream
version 2
1 packet cheesecake pudding
1 cup milk
1 tub cool whip

If you use version 2 to make cookies, here are directions. Preheat oven to 350'
Mix together cake mix, pumpkin, oil, eggs, water and spice. Place by heaping tbsp on lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8/9 min and cool on rack.

filling
version 1
beat softened cream cheese until fluffy, add half the dry packet of pudding(or the whole one, your taste here) and about a tbsp of whipping cream, beat on low till completely combined. Add the rest of the whipping cream and beat on high till stiff peaks form. Place in fridge for an hour to set up. 

version 2
make pudding with one cup of cold milk, place in fridge for about 10 min to set up. then mix w/cool whip. Place in Fridge for about an hour.

To make the pies, take one cookie and place a big dollop(ummm. I will use ANY excuse to use the word dollop. Hello, how fun is that word. If you don't think so, please reevaluate your idea of word fun;) then place other cookie on top. 

Notes*** basically you could make this so many ways. Per yesterdays post, you could make this cheesecake pudding any flavor you love...caramel or even pumpkin spice would be delish. Not sure where you are, but if you could find either the cinnamon or french vanilla cool whips to use instead of regular...can only imagine that also being fantastical!

have a fabulous Halloween! The hubs and I will be passing out candy and then heading out to our 3rd party of the season. and to think I thought my 20's were fun. meh. I'll take 30's any day!!!

Pumpkin Butterscotch No Bake Cheesecake

Nom. Nom. Nom. These were rather tasty. and just the right size. and the best part? oh.so.simple! I love the collision of these two flavors. So gooooood.  and it was the perfect occasion to use those candy corn pumpkins as decorations on actual food instead of the house projects that pesky pinterest has put me up to.(and no, I didn't eat mine. ech. haha I just offended half my friends)

Ingredients
4 oz pumpkin cream cheese(softened)
2 oz cream cheese(softened)
1 pkge cheesecake pudding(dry)
1/3 cup butterscotch ice cream sauce
butterscotch sauce to pour over top( you'll decide how much)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
mini graham cracker crusts
1 bag mini candy corn pumpkins

Directions
beat the cream cheese on low for 1 min till fluffy, add the pudding packet and roughly 2 tbsp of the whipping cream and continue beating on low to incorporate the dry pudding into the cream cheese. Then slowly add the 1/3 cup butterscotch and continue till thoroughly mixed, add the whipping cream a little at a time and slowly build the speed up to high, whipping till fluffy peaks form.
Pour into the crusts(I actually used piping bags, but you can do either) drizzle tops w/butterscotch sauce and top w/mini pumpkin candy. Place in freezer for at least 2 hrs.

Notes***you could use all pumpkin cream cheese. I just am not an overly huge pumpkin fan(gasp) and if you can't find pumpkin cream cheese, you could add 1 or 2 tbsp of the pumpkin pie filling on the first step of making cream cheese fluffy. 

and I've received your texts/messages, I'm still writing the ptsd posts, just been contemplating what to say. Plus, I'll include some pics from the actual walk, which was ah...mazing!

Fluffernutter Cheesecake Dip

so simple. so good. and it made me slightly nostalgic for my childhood. Can I tell you something? I only ate one cold sandwich growing up(actually room temp, but let's not muse over details) and it wasn't a PB & J, nope, it was the delectable treat known as a fluffernutter. Oh, be still my heart. Goodness in a little girls life. So I've tried adapting the treat to a few of my favorite things, so far I've made whoopie pies, ooey gooey bars and then finally, this super simple dip.

Ingredients
4-6 oz cream cheese(softened)
2 tbsp peanut butter(melted)
2 tbsp marshmallow fluff(melted)
1 packet cheesecake pudding
1 cup heavy whipping cream
(or cool whip & milk to make pudding, I'll give those directions also)

place pb & fluff in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 5-10 seconds(be sure to watch carefully, there's nothing more gagifying than burned pb.trust me) then add to softened cream cheese and beat on low for roughly a minute, till the mixture is fluffy. Add half the packet of pudding and 2 tbsp of whipping cream. Beat to fully incorporate and then add remainder of whipping cream and beat till stiff peaks form. Place in fridge for at least an hour or until ready to serve. if you wanted to use cool whip, mix the pudding packet with 1 cup cold milk and after it sets up, mix with cool whip, then whisk together w/the cream cheese, pb and fluff.

These are great with graham crackers or apples and pretzels w/salt gives it a nice twist. I also use this as an "instant cheesecake" and pour mixture over pre made crust and put in fridge for 2 hours. It's also quite tasty rolled up in crescent rolls and baked for 10 minutes, maybe add some mini reese's. The ideas are endless.