S'mores Cheesecake

Don't wait to go camping to enjoy S'mores!  Bake up this rich and delicious cake without a campfire.

Recipe

Traveling Dessert Buffet

A fun selection of treats that can also travel the distance to the party (from top left, clockwise): Peanut Butter Temptations, Brownie Bites, Cream Cheese Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Cranberry Pecan Cookies, and M&M Cookies. The cookies are the same basic dough as the cookie bars, I just divided it and put M&Ms in one half and cranberries and pecans in the other half.

For traveling, I put everything in plastic containers. The cookies and cookie bars packed the easiest. I used waxed paper between layers of Brownie Bites and the PB Temptations. Waxed paper on top of the Cream Cheese Brownies pulled off the top of the cream cheese, so I only did single layers in shallow containers. Ideally, I would I have just left these guys in the pan and covered it, but I had already cut them up when I realized I couldn't stack them.

Make your own cupcake picks!

By using stickers that were nearly symmetrical, I stuck them together with a toothpick sandwiched between and they became cupcake toppers. If your stickers aren't very symmetrical, you could punch out some paper circles so you have a symmetrical base, and put your stickers on the circles with the toothpick between the two circles. For the top cupcake pick, I printed out the words using my computer printer and took a scallop punch to them. To keep the surface flat, and not rounding over the toothpick, I used mounting tape to put the two scallop circles together.

Pie Decorating

Use your pie dough scraps, cookie cutters, and colorful sprinkles to make a pie for a special person. No frosting required.

Definite baking inspiration!

Need a new take on your cupcake? The Batch Cupcakery here in Reno (which I so want to go to) has a great site, and this link will take you to 28 really cool ideas for cupcakes, with cool names to go with them:
http://www.batchcupcakery.com/?goto=flavors

For example:
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore. . .
Emerald City Mint frosting with dark chocolate cake. Delicious enough to make Dorothy click her heels two times.

I labeled this under cakes as well, because you could apply the ideas to larger items..

Brownie Pie

For those of you who prefer chocolate to cooked fruit, this is the pie for you. Pretty much just brownie batter (2 eggs, not 3) baked between pie dough - with marshmallows and caramel sauce in the middle of the brownie batter (although you don't know they are there after it's baked, but not sure yet if they make a difference). Since calcium is very important, be sure to have a scoop of vanilla ice cream with it.

Autumn Pie Crust

Using my smallest cookie cutters, I put leaves and acorns along the edge of my apple pie. I just used the extra pie dough that I cut off from the edge. This is a very easy thing to do for an impressive look. You can use shapes for whatever your occasion, or use letter shapes to spell out a name or happy birthday. Since this was also for someone's birthday, I put their initial in the middle of the pie with a small heart on each side. I recommend using foil or other means to keep the edges from getting too dark, and pulling off the edge cover the last bit of cooking time so they still get a nice color.

Cream Cheese Frosting :(

I made pumpkin bars last night for an office birthday today. I didn't want to have to frost them until this morning when I got to work so they were easier to transport, so I had bought some frosting at the store. I bought Betty Crocker Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting. It looks very pretty on there but it does not TASTE like it is cream cheese frosting at all. I was very disappointed. This is the first time I had tried to buy cream cheese frosting, so I don't know if there are other brands that actually taste like they have cream cheese in them or if it is because it is "whipped". Next time I will just make my own, even if I have to put it in a separate container and frost it later.

Altitude Adjustments

Just some comments on altitude adjustments. While I don't usually follow the recommendations a box of brownies or a cake mix, I have found that adding up to a fourth of a cup of flour to cookie dough does make your cookies not quite so flat. I actually prefer the texture of them with the extra flour.