Strawberry-Shortcake Pancakes

Spring has only just begun, and it’s still pretty chilly, but I’m already seeing signs of life in my garden. My strawberry plants are back and they're about 3 inches tall! Looking at them the other day got me thinking about strawberries; ripe and red and sweet and warm from the sun.

Strawberry shortcake is my favourite strawberry dessert. I could eat it for every meal, all summer long. Alas, I feel this would set a bad example for my kids…. and my pants would get smaller. So I’ve decided to settle for a yummy breakfast substitute. I made a fresh strawberry purée and incorporated it into a batch of fluffy Bisquick pancakes and then topped them with a healthy dollop of cheesecake whipped cream with diced strawberries.

While this is delicious warm for breakfast, I discovered that it’s equally as yummy cold for dessert! A fresh, decadent dessert you can prepare in minutes when unexpected company pops over? Perfect!

Strawberry-Shortcake Pancakes
(makes 9 pancakes)

for the pancakes:

2 cups Bisquick
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
2 tbsp granulated sugar

1. Mix the strawberries and the granulated  sugar and set aside for about 10 minutes.
2. Take half the strawberries and their juice and purée until there are no more chunks. Set the other cup of strawberries aside for the whipped cream.
3. In another bowl, mix together the Bisquick, milk, egg and the strawberry purée.
4. In a preheated frying pan set over medium heat, pour in 1/2 cup of the pancake batter at a time and cook the pancakes until you see bubbles in the batter and then flip over and cook through. Remove from the pan.
5. Cover and keep warm.

for the cheesecake whipped cream:

4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. In a small bowl beat the cream cheese with the milk and granulated sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and stir.
2. Dice the remaining strawberries and add them to the cream cheese mixture.
2. In a separate bowl, whip the whipping cream with the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
3. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until it’s incorporated.
4. Top each pancake with a generous dollop of the whipped cream and serve immediately.

Also delicious served cold for dessert!

Check out lifemadedelicious.ca for more recipes from my kitchen!

No Bake White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake in a Jar

 I have been so incredibly busy the past few weeks, blogging, cooking and baking had to take a back seat to family and volunteer obligations. When my schedule finally let up a bit we got struck with a heat wave that lasted 3 days and had temperatures near 40 degrees with the humidity.... cooking was not something that interested me. Sipping a cold bevvie on the patio yes, but slaving over a hot stove, no thanks.

Of course the weather rarely has an affect on my sweet tooth. After barbequing one night I was desperate for dessert (probably cause my 8 month old ate half my dinner!) and ice cream just wasn't going to cut it. I knew I needed a no bake dessert, so I hit pinterest (my new obsession!) looking for inspiration. I came across a picture that linked to My Baking Addiction's Cheesecake in a Jar recipe (I seem to be drawn to her photography). Jamie never fails to impress the hell out of me.

What I loved about this idea was that they're individual little cheesecakes, you can just throw one in your lunch, or grab one to enjoy while your kids play in the sprinkler. But Jamie's recipe was a bake cheesecake (I will be trying it for sure once fall comes!) and I was looking for a no bake option. I've done no bake cheesecake before with a lot of success so I thought I'd invent my own recipe and see what happened.

 I combined cream cheese, fat free Greek yogurt and whipped cream to make a light and fluffy dessert that my friend Laurie described as "a cross between cheesecake and an amped up yogurt parfait". It's light, creamy, cheescakey and totally delish. You can make it in small mason jars, mugs, plastic cups or if you wanted to make one large one that would work too.

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No Bake White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake in a Jar

For the crust:
1 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c butter, melted

For the Cheesecake:
8 oz light cream cheese, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 c fat free Greek yogurt (I used PC Greek Yogurt with Honey)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c white chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly
1 pkg Dream Whip
1/2 c milk (1%, 2% or skim work best)

For the Raspberry Topping:
2 c fresh or frozen raspberries
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c raspberry preserves

Instrcutions:

1. Put the raspberries in a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar for the topping and allow to macerate.
2. Combine the graham crumbs, sugar and butter and divide equally between 8 small jars (approx. 3 tbsp/jar). Pack down firmly.
3. In a stand mixer or deep bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until combined. Add the yogurt and mix until combined.
4. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add to the cream cheese mixture and mix to combine.
5. In another bowl, whip the Dream Whip, vanilla and milk until stiff peaks form (approx. 8 minutes)
6. Gently fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture.
7. Spoon the cheesecake equally into the jars.
8. Allow the cheesecakes to set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
9. Drain the raspberries (reserve the liquid for a yummy pitcher of raspberry lemonade to go with the cheesecakes!) and add the raspberry preserves mixing to combine.
10. Top the cheesecakes with the raspberry topping and serve.


Tip: Keep the cheesecakes refrigerated or on ice until ready to eat.


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enjoy!

Amanda

No Bake Cadbury Cream Egg Cheesecake

I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves for a sec...

oh yes I did!

look at the fluffy lusciousness...

OH YES I DID!

cause that right there ^ is what it's all about.

I had never had a Cadbury Cream Egg... until a few days ago. I know, crazy right? The look of white and yolk pouring out of a chocolate shell, even yolk made of icing, creeped me out. For the last month or so on Twitter about half of the tweets I read in my timeline are about cream eggs. I'm pretty sure my friend @sarahjcarter has them for breakfast every day. So I decided to try one. My review: it was... okay.

You're looking at your screen with a look of shock bordering on abject horror aren't you? I found it a little too sweet, which is a saying something coming from me! While I won't be rushing out to create a stash for myself in preparation of them disappearing from stores until next Easter, I understand and appreciate how most of civilized society craves these little chocolate balls of gooeyness (How the heck do you spell that? Gooiness? Gooieness? Is it even a word? Whatev!).

I'm not exactly sure where my twisted mind went when I dreamt up this combination, I guess I was wondering if the tanginess (tangyness? Oh my God I suck at this adding "ness" to the end of words thing!) of cheesecake would balance the sugary-sweetness of the eggs, but whatever I was thinking it was genius! I was overwhelmed with the response to the No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares I posted earlier this month so I decided to go with a no bake cheesecake recipe (I listen to my fans!) for this. I borrowed Jamie's recipe from My Baking Addiction (go visit her site, it's amazing!) and tweaked it ever so slightly.

We were headed to our good friends' house (Hi Laurie!) and I knew they would die twice for this dessert so I whipped it up and brought it over. After our amazing rib dinner we pulled it out and started snapping pictures with Laurie's camera (COVET). I wanted to get a picture of a slice on a plate but as you can see that didn't work, as soon as slices hit plates they were gone!

So if you're eating cream eggs like the end of the world is near, give this a try, it's a total foodgasm!

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No Bake Cadbury Cream Egg Cheesecake

1 1/2 c finely ground oreo crumbs
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 pkgs cream cheese; room temperature
1/3 c plus 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1 vanilla bean pod, seeded*
3/4 c heavy whipping cream, whipped
40 mini Cadbury Cream Eggs

Instructions:
1. In a bowl, mix together the oreo crumbs with melted butter and the 3 tablespoons sugar.
2. Press into a 6" springform pan making sure to come up the sides a bit. Put in refrigerator until ready for use.
3. In a bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/3 cup of the vanilla sugar.
4. Split and scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean pod and add to the cream cheese.
5. Whip the cream with the 3 tbsp of vanilla sugar, and fold into cream cheese mixture.
6. Cut 20 of the cream eggs in half (or beak apart if they’re soft) and fold into the cream cheese mixture.
7. Spread into pan making sure to cover all the cream eggs with the cream cheese mixture so the top is smooth.
8. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.
9. Top with the remaining cream eggs.

* The vanilla bean is purely optional, I had one that needed to be used so I added it, but it would be just as good without.

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enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Our family Easter dinner was this past weekend and as usual I wanted to bring a dessert. My nieces and nephews all adore this cheesecake recipe so I made it again for them, cause you know, they didn't get enough chocolate already.

I got this recipe from Kraft years ago, but recent searches for it on their website fail to find it. Weird. Anyways, I have mentioned before how much I love chocolate and peanut butter so I won't bore you with that again, but seriously, this cheesecake is TO DIE FOR. It's very rich and creamy and tastes like heaven.

I like to garnish it with chocolate covered peanuts, peanut butter cups or, since it was Easter, I put some Reese Eggs on top. Give it a try for your next dinner party or book club meeting!

(Sorry about the less than stellar picture, The kids dug into it so fast I didn't have a chance to take any pretty pictures, I shot this one with my iPhone as the vultures were coming back for seconds!)

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Kraft

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
1 9" graham pie crust
4 squares Baker's chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Beat the cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter until combined.
2. Add the eggs one at a time mixing in between.
3. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake at 350˚F for 30 minutes or until the centre is set.
4. Heat cream and chocolate over low heat until the chocolate has melted.
5. Pour the chocolate ganache over top the cooled cake.
6. Top with whipped cream, chocolate covered peanuts, melted peanut butter, peanut butter cups or anything else you like!

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enjoy!

Amanda

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip

When I want cheesecake I want it noooooooow! Cheesecakes take time, I make them for special occasions or to take to parties, but on a Friday night when I'm curled up watching a chick-flick and I start craving something sweet, this is my snack of choice.

I went to a baby shower a couple of years ago and someone brought a similar dip to the party. When I tasted it I thought I'd died and gone to buffet heaven. I tracked down who brought this luscious (perfect word to describe it!) dip and asked for the recipe. She vaguely mentioned that there was cream cheese and cool whip in it and then turned her attention elsewhere. A little later I asked again and she changed the subject. Okay, so it was a secret recipe, whatev, but that wasn't going to stop me. A little research online and some experimentation and I re-created the dip, but added in some chocolate chips (cause I like to rock the chocolate wherever possible) and a touch of vanilla cause I put it in everything. I serve fresh fruit, teddy grahams (the kiddos love these), chocolate covered graham crackers, and chocolate squares for dipping into the dip, but anything works, even your finger!

If you're craving cheesecake and don't have the time to put into baking one, or you want a lighter (hello, light cream cheese and low-fat cool whip, this is practically diet food!) version, try this out!

My favourite dippers

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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip

1/2 pkg. Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese, room temperature
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. Light Cool Whip
1/4 c. mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Beat softened cream cheese with the sugar and milk until smooth
2. Add the vanilla and mix.
3. Gently fold the mixture into the cool whip.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and put in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to rest.
5. Serve with various fruits, crackers, and chocolates for dipping.

It tastes just like cheesecake, just a little fluffier!

Ohhhh yeaaaahhhh

enjoy,
Amanda