Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Recipe Adapted From Alina Design Co

INGREDIENTS

1 package (2 sheets) puffed pastry

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter (melted)
Cinnamon Sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Unfold then use a rolling pin to spread out the puffed pastry. Place one sheet of puffed pastry onto parchment. Spread cream cheese mixture onto puffed pastry, top with other sheet of puffed pastry.
Seal sides by pinching them together. Spread melted butter over the top, and generously sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool. Serve warm.

Once upon a time, I pinned the recipe for this on Pinterest, and it became my mom popular pin. Like, it was on the Most Popular Page for like 3 weeks. It was the most annoying thing of my life! And then Pinterest stopped being an invite only website, and the jets were cooled. Unfortunately, the annoyance caused me to resent the pin, and I never made the recipe. What a foolish decision that was, because this is AMAZING. The original recipe says to use Crescent Roll Dough, but I think that it's too greasy and too savory of a thing, AND when I made this in a bind, all I had was some Pepperidge Farm Puffed Pastry Sheets. Best ingredient swap of my life! Make this, you will not be disappointed! 

Puffed French Toast

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf french bread, cut into 1 inch slices*

3/4 cup sugar

1.5 tablespoons cinnamon

2 eggs
2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. milk
1 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Vegetable Oil for frying

DIRECTIONS

In a shallow baking dish, mix sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of vegetable oil to 375ºF.

While the oil is coming to temperature, thoroughly combine eggs, remaining sugar, salt, vanilla extract, milk, flour and backing powder in a pie dish.

Working quickly, take each slice of french bread, and soak both sides in the batter. Shake off excess, and place in hot oil. Fry until puffed up and golden in color, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Remove from oil, and place on a cooling rack lined with paper towels to cool. While still warm, coat in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Serve warm with whatever your heart desires. We like it with fresh strawberries, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream.

I'm a Mormon. I guess that needed to be said for the story? Anyway, I was watching General Conference with my friend, Marina. And in between the Saturday Sessions a commercial for a cookbook came on, and it showed a picture of this puffed french toast. And I KNEW that I needed that cookbook, because I NEEDED to make that french toast for our Sunday General Conference Breakfast the next day for all of our friends. So, after the afternoon session, we drove to Deseret Book, purchased it, found the recipe and straight to Walmart to grab the ingredients. We forgot to grab the Texas Toast the recipe called for, but there were loaves of french bread next to us. Laziness prevailed, so we grabbed a loaf, and then the adaptation that created my FAVORITE breakfast was born!

Cinnamon Candied Almonds

INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp water
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300ºF.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray with coconut oil; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg white and water until frothy, about 2 minutes; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine almonds and the egg white mixture until well combined. Stir in brown sugar mixture until evenly coated.

Spread almond mixture evenly onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring at halftime.

Let cool completely before serving.

Okay guys, Christmas time is my favorite time of the year because of candied nuts. The mall always smells like what I imagine heaven smells like, and candied nuts are the reason for the season! And they are one of the best thing about BYU football games. Unfortunately, eating candied nuts has become a challenge for me. My jaw always kills me after eating a handful or two. So that, and the fact that my sister had a giant bag of sliced almonds inspired me to make these.

Coffee Cake Muffins

adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened (+ 1 tbsp)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.

Process nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in food processor until nuts are size of sesame seeds, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl.

Return bowl and metal blade to food processor, add flour, granulated sugar, and salt and process until combined. Sprinkle the 1 stick of butter evenly over flour mixture and process until butter is oat-sized, about eight 1-second pulses.

Remove 1 cup of flour-butter mixture and stir with fork into reserved pecan/brown sugar mixture until combined to make streusel.

Set aside 3/4 cup of the streusel for muffin batter and save the remaining portion for topping muffins.

Note: At this point I added an additional tablespoon of butter to the streusel for topping the muffins.

Transfer remaining flour mixture, and 3/4 cup streusel to a large bowl. Mix until combined, then make a well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, and gently stir until combined.

Divide batter among 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with streusel, pressing lightly so that streusel sinks slightly into batter.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out with several crumbs clinging to it, about 22 minutes.

Cool muffin tin on wire rack for 2 minutes. Using tip of paring knife, loosen muffins and gently transfer from tin to wire rack; cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

from eat me, delicious

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/4 cup sour cream

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

*1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon for rolling*

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar and nutmeg.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately by thirds to the butter-egg mixture.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out muffin batter one at a time and drop into the cinnamon sugar mixture, and roll.

Place into greased muffin tin. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes or until golden brown.