Luscious Lemon

As I sit here at school and observe the people that walk past, I sure am glad my parents raised me how they did. Have I ever gone on about how I had the best childhood ever? Because I did, and I make sure everyone knows it.  I remember alllllll the way back to my 3rd birthday. Holla. Talk about impressive.  But really, if I got $100 for every weirdo I'm looking at in close proximity this very second, I'd have probably have $1,000 right now. Now you're probably thinking, "Now, now, Sarah, don't be so quick to judge.", but really, I have no doubt that I'm right on my prediction. And I don't think anyone showers these days either. But enough talk about people. Let's talk about this Luscious Lemon haha....it really is a very refreshing summer dessert especially when served cold (according to Grandma).

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped pecans - divided
1 stick butter - softened
1 package cream cheese - softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping - thawed - divided
2 (3.4-ounce) packages lemon instant pudding mix
2 2/3 cups milk

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-Combine flour, 1/2 cup pecans and butter in a medium bowl and mix well. Press onto the bottom of an 9x13 baking dish. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Let stand to cool.
-Place cream cheese in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer set at medium speed until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
-Add 1 cup whipped topping to cream cheese mixture and fold in gently. Spread over cooled crust.
-Combine pudding mix and milk in a medium bowl. Beat until thickened. Spread on top of cream cheese layer.
-Top with the remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle with remaining pecans.
-Cover and chill for 1 hour. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

"No Bake Nutella Cheesecake"...

Well would you lookie here. Today is Mother's Day.  Can I just go on about how great my mom is for 3 seconds?  She cooks me dinner and puts up with my antics.  What more could a 20 year old girl ask for?  Oh, and her mashed potatoes are to die for.  Hey Mom!  Team 'Murica!  We speak 'Murican!  And just to let you all know I'm working diligently on getting my nice summer glow......talk about a happy girl.  I needed to buy a new bottle of tanning oil and uhhh hello? Does Hawaiian Tropic think I'm made of money? because I'm not.  The bottle of tanning oil cost $10!! TEN DOLL HAIRS!  Maybe I'm overreacting.....just a little bit.....but let's work on cutting that down to like $5 next summer.  Rant over.  So we're having homemade ribs and baked potatoes and dessert....and this dessert will literally make you just want to roll over and die out of pure happiness.....

Ingredients:
For the Crust

12 Oreo Cookies, crushed into crumbs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter - melted

For the Filling
1 package cream cheese - softened
2/3 cup Nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces of whipped topping (buy a pint of heavy whipping cream and use the leftover for garnish)

For the Garnish 
Whipped topping
Oreo Halves

Directions:

-In a medium bowl, stir together the Oreo cookie crumbs and melted butter. Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.

-In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and Nutella until smooth. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Carefully, fold in the whipped topping until well blended and no streaks remain.

-Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

***I garnished these bad boys with leftover whipped topping and a half of an Oreo.  To make the whipped topping you pour the entire pint of heavy whipping cream into the mixer and add 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar.  With the whisk attachment, whip until stiff peaks form. And viola! Homemade whipped cream!***

Lemon & Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies!

Well, I haven't blogged in what seems like since 'Nam.  Not much has happened. I only have 5 more weeks left (10 more classes) of this term for my pastry school.  It's going splendidly.  I don't procrastinate with my homework. What? Should I repeat myself? I don't procrastinate with my homework.  I find hospitality law interesting....uhhh.  Anywho, the whether is phenomenal these days, and I wish I could marry summer time, but I can't.  Well, maybe I can, there has to be a loop hole somewhere in our system.  Ok, but really, let's talk about these cookies....

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
1 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tablespoon lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cup flour1 cup blueberries (called for 1 cup, I used 2 cups)

1/2 package cream cheese - cut into 1 teaspoon cubes

Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
-In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. 

-Blend in the lemon zest, juice and eggs.
-In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour then mix it into the wet ingredients. -Gently fold in the blueberries so as not to burst any.
-Refrigerate the dough for about 15 – 20 minutes to make it stiff enough to roll.
-For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball then flatten it slightly into a disc shape. Place a 1 teaspoon cream cheese cube into the center and form the dough around it creating a ball again.
-Bake them for about 10 - 14 minutes until the edges brown slightly. 

-Transfer them to a cooling rack and enjoy!

Cookies n Cream Cookies

I like to be redundant in my title, back off.  Can I just go on about how fantastic this week has been and it's only Tuesday? Yesterday I worked out and am sore as can be today and I love that feeling.  Today I started pastry school, nothing too special went on today (Kara!), but I will be sure to let you all know.  Except in class we were talking about what resources our land produces and someone shouted out weed.  I guess they weren't technically wrong on that one.  Today I got a call saying our soccer league starts up on Thursday. FINALLY. So excited for the potential Team Pup n Suds has.......NOT.  We will need 911 on speed dial.  And last but not least, I made these today and they are delicious.
Oh, and a shout out to my brother Phillip for doing the lighting for the picture. Happy? :D

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter - softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 (4.2 ounce) package Cookies n Cream pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups white chocolate chips
15 Oreo cookies - chopped

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Cream butter and sugars, add pudding mix until blended.
-Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
-In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda with a whisk then add it to the butter mixture.
-Stir in the chocolate chips and Oreo cookies.
-Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
-Bake for 10 minutes.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Orange Muffins

Just to start this off my mom says to me, "I thought your muffins were good!" and somehow, I got lost in translation because I thought she said, "...and what about your muffin top?" WHAT! But my mamma didn't say that to me of course!  Anyways, these surprisingly were very easy to make. Mix some of this, stir some of that, and distribute.  Pretty simple. P.S. Where did the warm weather go? Why do I have my WINTER heater on in my room? grr. 

Ingredients:
For the muffins:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Zest of 1 orange

For the glaze:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1-2 tsp. orange zest

Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. 
-Line 24 muffin wells.
-In a medium mixing bowl, combine the milk, orange juice, sour cream, eggs and melted butter.  Whisk together to blend. 
-In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Stir to blend.
-Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. 
-Fold in the orange zest with a spatula.

-Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. 
-Bake about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
-Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack placed over a baking sheet.

--To make the glaze, combine the orange juice, confectioners’ sugar, and orange zest in a small bowl. 
--Whisk together until smooth, adding more juice if necessary. 
--Drizzle the glaze over the muffins while they are still warm. 

Good Ole Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies from Grandma Sarah's Kitchen

I'm just a girl living my life. I start pastry school on Monday and I couldn't be more excited.  I need this like Grandma needs to learn the difference between a yellow finch and a duck.  I need this like I need gas in my car.  I live about .10 miles away from BP and I'm not quite sure I'll make it there next time I get in my car.  I like to live life on the edge.  Or at least something like that.  I'm a risky person; I drive around with my gas light on, AND I put more ground cinnamon than it calls for in the recipe.  Whoa.  Speaking of 'whoa', we're going to Keeneland this Saturday. "Whoa horsey, whoa!"....time for me to pretend I live life of the cultered class. Classy, classless? Which one will I be.  I'll say classy for the sake of my mom. Hey mom! Heyyyoooo.

Ingredients:
-2 sticks butter
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-2 cups all purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-3 cups old fashioned oats

Directions:
-Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon into a small bowl. Set aside.
-In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and sugars.
-Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.
-Stir in flour mixture into cream mixture.
-Mix in oats until combined.
-Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour.
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-Grease cookies sheets, and roll the dough into appropriate size balls.
-Flatten each cookie with a fork dipped in sugar.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes, and allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet! Enjoy!

Holy, Cake Balls!

Just in time for Easter!......just for a fore warning I used a cake ball pan to make these. I've attempted to make cake balls time and time again and they turn out to be a nightmare.  So this past Christmas, my loving brother Phillip bought me a cake ball pan.  Anywho, it worked out fabulous.  Oh, and just so you don't fall out of your chair reading this....I went against all my morals and used a cake box mix. AHHH. Yeah, I did it. As for the chocolate coating.....somehow I managed to burn the chocolate the first time around.  Buzz kill.  So today I had to run out and buy more chocolate!  However, here they are in all their glory.

Ingredients:
1 Vanilla Cake Mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 oil
1 Box of Vanilla Instant Pudding
Candy Coating Chocolate - any color (s) you desire. I ended up using almost 2 pounds of chocolate to decorate these.
Candy Sticks

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Grease cake ball pans on both the bottom and top pan.
-Dump cake mix into large bowl and add 4 eggs, 1/2 cup milk (substituted instead of the water on the package), oil, and the vanilla pudding mix.
-Beat on low for 30 seconds, then beat on medium for 2 minutes - scraping sides of bowl.
-After everything is combined, the consistency will be very dense.  Pour batter into the bottom pan.
-Place top pan (with holes) on bottom pan.
-Bake for 25-30 minutes
-Let pan cool before removing top pan.

For decorating:
-When the cake balls are completely cooled, melt a small amount of the melting chocolate in the microwave for about 30 seconds or so.
-Dip the end of a candy stick into the melted chocolate, then insert into the cake ball.  This secures the cake ball to the stick as a glue.  Place in freezer for about 10 minutes to harden the chocolate.
-As they are in the freezer, heat a large amount of chocolate coating in the microwave until melted.
-Remove cake balls from freezer, and dip cake balls into the chocolate coating.
-Drizzle on any other accent colors your wish to use.  Or sprinkles, etc.
-The chocolate will harden and they're ready to enjoy!