Build Your Own Cheesecakes

A coworker has decided that she is fulfilling a lifelong dream and moving to Alaska. She has been with the company for over 18 years and was instrumental in my original training. We worked closely together on almost a daily basis and she will truly be missed.

She doesn't like big celebrations or fusses made for her, but my boss still wanted to send her away in style (her style), so we had a luncheon. She chose Jimmy John's for lunch and I coordinated the sub order. My boss picked up chips and I offered to make the dessert as I do for almost all celebrations.

My thinking cap went into high gear last week trying to figure out the logistics of making Baked Alaska treats for the group. Without having a kitchen torch at my disposal and not sure how I would get them to work in one piece, I pitched that idea to the side and chose mini cheesecakes instead.

Margaret (the Alaska-bound coworker) and I had a discussion just last week about how amazing cheesecake is and how you can just never say no when someone offers you some. Not to mention how many different kinds there are. This got me thinking and I came up with a Top-Your-Own-Cheesecake Bar.

I have learned over the past ten years that if you bring in a sheet cake or pie and it's not cut up, my coworkers are less likely to eat it. So I decided to make individual cheesecake cupcakes. I found a recipe on KraftRecipes.com, but I made some substitutions.

I subbed crushed vanilla wafer cookies in place of the graham crackers. You may want to use 1.5 cups instead of 1 cup as I felt each cup could have used a little more in the bottom. I used 3 packages of 1/3 less fat cream cheese to lessen the fat content of the cheesecake a bit, but not sacrificing flavor.

I didn't use the whipping cream in this recipe because I bought a can of cool whip for my coworkers to use.

I made the cupcakes as the directions said and they took 25 minutes in my oven.

In the meantime, I got the toppings ready. I went to Dollar Tree and picked up some of the ingredients. They had Apple Pie Filling, frozen mixed fruit and blueberries and Butterfinger Bites. I also picked up some containers to put the fruits in because I didn't have enough at home. The store sells 3-packs of 2-cup Betty Crocker containers for $1 each. These are a perfect size container. I then stopped at the grocery store and picked up Cherry Pie Filling and Cool Whip.

So in all, I had five toppings and Cool Whip for my coworkers to create their own cheesecake desserts. I would recommend cutting the apples in half as they were quite large and I coarsely chopped the Butterfinger Bites.

The lunch was a great success. We shared stories and reminisced on her years at Image Makers. She thanked us and wished us luck and plans to keep in touch.

And my dessert was a huge hit! Everyone said the cheesecakes were great and loved the variety of toppings. There were even a few leftover in the fridge after the party, but I'm sure they won't last long!

Easy Peasy Fruit Tarts

With Valentine's Day coming up next weekend, I wanted to share with you an easy treat that is quick to make and delicious. Besides baking the cookies and chopping the fruit, we let my guys' girls do the rest of the work to make these gems. 

It was my guy's birthday was a few weeks ago and he decided he wanted to spend some quality time with his daughters while he had them that weekend. I suggested that we work together to cook a wonderful meal and he could pick out what he wanted to eat. 

From my new cookbook "SkinnyTaste," he chose the Oven-Fried Chicken. I suggested garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables to go with it and he loved that idea. More on that crispy, juicy chicken and mashed potatoes in a future post.

I then showed my guy the world that is Pinterest and my dessert board. He wanted to pick a treat the girls could easily help make. He scrolled and scrolled until he came upon a recipe for fruit tarts (or mini fruit pizzas) and it was decided that was the perfect dessert. 

Because we wanted four fruits used on the tarts, I let each girl, my guy and myself each pick our favorites. Kiwis, raspberries, mandarin oranges and blackberries were chosen. Unfortunately the grocery store didn't have any kiwis so green grapes were used in place. 

To keep the recipe efficient, I bought pre-made sugar cookie dough and while the girls were watching a little TV with their dad, I popped the cookies on a pan and baked them off. My guys oldest helped with making the "frosting" for the tarts by using the electric mixer to "whip it good!" And because our cookies were smaller, I chopped each piece of fruit on half to make them fit. Then it was time to assemble.

Take a cookie and slather it with as much frosting as you like. 

Then take a piece of each fruit and decorate the top. 

It's really that simple and his girls got pretty creative with it. 

We made 24 cookies in total - check out those masterpieces! We put the tarts in the fridge while we ate dinner, which by the way everyone loved! Then it was time to sing my guy Happy Birthday and have a treat!

He ate one from each girl, and then maybe a few more later that night. And maybe that was breakfast the next morning too! They were really good and the cookie was a bit softer the second day.

This recipe called for shortbread cookies, but we used sugar cookies instead. I think this recipe could be something to try with the Shortbread cookies I just bought from my guy's oldest daughter who is a girl scout.Also, we had a lot of extra frosting. We didn't skimp on the tarts either. My guy ended up buying more cookies and brought all the ingredients to my house later that week for an after dinner treat for us.

We all really enjoyed the tarts and it made for a very memorable birthday for my guy!