Black-bottom Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

I have been wanting to make a strawberry pie for some time now. I looked through tons of recipes and some seemed too long and involved, some I did not have all the ingredients and others just didn't sound good. So I took a little bit of what I had with some ideas from recipe browsing and the Black-bottom  Strawberry Cheesecake pie was born!!

Black-bottom Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

Ingredients

for crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar

pie filling
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 pint of strawberries
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Topping
1 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
8 strawberries

Crust ingredients

Melt your butter like so.

And bash up those graham crackers. (its takes almost 2 sleeves of graham crackers to make 2 cups)

Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs and butter into mini chop. You can do it by hand in a bowl I find that it comes together better this way.

press into pie place.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

Put 1/2 cup of hot fudge in your baked pie crust.

Wash and cut the top off of half a pint of strawberries.

After washing your mini chop, add your strawberries.

and get them all nice and mushy!!!

Add the cream cheese and blend. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, 1/3 at a time until desired sweetness is achieved. Mine took 2/3 of a cup.

Pour it into the pie crust.

Wash other 1/2 of the strawberries and melt the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

Dip dried strawberries into the melted chocolate.

Place on wax paper and chill.

Gather whipped cream ingredients.

Add 1 cup whipping cream, dash of vanilla and 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, Start mixing slowly.

Final product!! Easy homemade whipped creme.

Now assemble your slices.

Cut a slice out!!

Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate covered strawberries.  

Now take a bite and eat!! Enjoy!!! We did!!!!

Southern Tea Cakes

Anyone knows what is better than a Saturday afternoon tea party with your girls??? Answer is nothing!! We wanted to have a super girlie day and I spent Friday night looking for the perfect desert for a tea party with a 2 and a 5 year old.

The perfect desert is a Southern Tea Cake.

What is a Southern Tea Cake? So glad you asked!! It is a soft vanilla like cookie/cake that has a very light flavor  of vanilla. It looks like a sugar cookie, rises like a whoopie pie and is amazingly light and easy to make.

I used Paula Deen's recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-tea-cakes-recipe/index.html and only changed a few things such sugar amount and used buttermilk powder and water in place of buttermilk. I also changed the order to mix it in and the way to incorporate the last cup of flour. I enjoy a more hands on way of making dough!!!!


Southern Tea Cakes

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder and 1/2 water)
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a bowl mix butter, sugar, eggs, buttermilk mixture, and vanilla. Add baking soda and baking powder. Add 1 cup of flour at a time until the 3rd cup. Then turn your dough onto a floured surface and mix in the rest of the flour 1/4 cup at a time with hands. Dough should be soft but not stick to you. Mine took 3 3/4 of flour all together.

Divide dough into two sections. Flatten by hand and use a round cookie cutter to cut out your tea cakes. I have a set of plastic cutters that the dough went right to the top, about 1/4 of an inch thick. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

Cool on cooking rack. They will rise up and look like little cakes.

Optional: I took 1 tablespoon of water, a few drops of vanilla and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar and mixed a quick glaze. I drizzled this over 12 cookies and then topped with some pretty pink sugar sprinkles.

I do not have step by step pictures but I do have the end result!! Any questions let me know!!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Raise a glass and clink with us!!!

Toilet Paper Roll Crafts

The girls and I are having a girls weekend and I needed a great idea. Well I noticed all the empty toilet paper rolls so I had a brainstorm. I wanted to do something different then the usual run of the mill crafts so we came up with two crafts in one. The first is Baby Doll Tea Cups and the second that GiGi came up with was Baby Doll Purses!!!! And the absolute best part??? The same directions just different ways to hold the craft when done.

Baby Doll Tea Cups and Baby Doll Purses

Materials

3 toilet paper rolls
felt or paper cut to cover roll
stapler
glue
pipe cleaners
assorted items to decorate
glitter glue
hole punch

First gather everything you need! I like to pre assemble a little bit before the munchkins discover what I am doing.

Cut the rolls in half.

Then get your covering ready. We used felt that was left over from another project but you could use paper or even just paint.

The punch hole on one side, one in the top and one directly down at the bottom.

Then wrap covering around

And staple

Then fold a pipe cleaner in half and thread one part through the top hole.

Then twist is and attach to the bottom!!

now decorate!! We made black ones that were the purses and these are the cups!

Now my biggest pet peeve are anyone who tried to control how your kid decorates it! Let them at it, have a blast and remember, its there craft to rock out!!

Liddie decorating hers.

Purse in the making

GiGi and her purse.

Finished cups

Finished purses!!

Have fun and get messy!!

S'mores Lava Cakes

My darling husband wanted lava cake tonight so being the wonderful wife I am I said sure sweetie!!

I wanted a new take on lava cakes. I have made cherry lava cakes, regular lava cakes, caramel ones which were a HUGE mess and I was thinking what goes great with gooey, melty chocolate. The answer?!?!?!? Marshmallow!!! So the S'more lava cake was born!! This is a mix of many different recipes that I have tried. 

S'mores Lava Cakes 

Ingredients:

chocolate chips

1 stick butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

2 egg yolks

2 eggs

2 graham crackers

marshmallow fluff

mini marshmallows

First pre-heat oven to 425. Melt butter and chocolate chips in the microwave. I do 2 handfuls of chocolate chips. 

Yummy melted chocolate goodness!!

Add both sugars. 

Add eggs

Then whisk in flour. 

The batter is supposed to be runny. 

Pour into 4 greased ramekins. 

Add 10 mini marshmallows. 

Place into a pan and bake 13 - 16 minutes. They should be completely set on the top and outside. 

Like this!!! Look at that nice crunchy marshmallow!!

Then prepare topping!!

Get ready to flip!

Success!!!!

Top with some fluff and a graham cracker and take a bite!! NOM!

Pre-taking a bite 

Plated to share with a wonderful man!!

Viola!! Enjoy