Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars (Gluten Free!)

Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars
From CookingTF.com

1-1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup arrowroot, optional
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp sea salt
8 Tbs cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 eggs, divided
1/4 cup sucanat or other unrefined sweetener, or more to taste
8 ounces cream cheese or kefir cheese
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs coconut milk or dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 – 1 batch butterscotch sauce**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8×8 pan and set aside.

In a food processor, combine the almond flour, arrowroot, baking powder and salt. Pulse until combined. And the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Divide the mixture in half and remove half from the food processor and set aside. Place one egg into the food processor with the remaining dough and pulse until combined. Pour the mixture into a greased 8×8 pan and smooth. Bake for 12 minutes or until set.

Meanwhile, place the remaining egg, sweetener, cream cheese, lemon juice, milk and vanilla extra into the food processor and process until uniformly combined. Pour over the par-baked crust and smooth to the edges. Take the remaining crust mixture and sprinkle over the top, breaking it up with your fingers if necessary. Press the crust down lightly into the cheesecake filling.
Return to the oven until the top crust is browned and the cheesecake filling is set, 25-30 minutes.
Once you remove the cheesecake from the oven, coat the top with butterscotch sauce.
Cool and refrigerate until completely chilled before serving.

**Butterscotch Sauce
4 Tbs (1/4 cup or a 1/2 stick) butter
scant 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut cream or coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a 2-quart or larger saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the rapadura, cream and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, reduce heat so that the mixture stays at a simmer instead of a rolling boil and cook for 5-10 minutes, whisking constantly. The longer you cook the mixture, the thicker the sauce will be. The sauce in the picture above was cooked for about 10 minutes and reached 200 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool briefly. Whisk in the vanilla extract and taste. Adjust the salt and extract until you like the taste of the sauce. Store any leftovers in the fridge and consume within 3 days.

These look so yummy!!!!!!!!

Classic Lemon Bars

I whipped up a batch of these this afternoon using the recipe from my Taste of Home Cookbook.

Thought I'd share the recipe :)

It's simple, easy, and tasty!

Classic Lemon Bars

Prep: 25 min. Bake: 10 min. + cooling

Yield: 9 Servings

25 10 35

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• FILLING:
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Confectioners' sugar

Directions

• In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; gradually beat in flour until blended.
• Press into an ungreased 8-in. square baking dish. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
• For filling, in a small bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, lemon juice, flour and baking powder until frothy. Pour over crust.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes longer or until set and lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.  Cut into squares. 
• Yield: 9 servings.

Let me know if you try these!

Can You Say YUM!? Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Breakfast Cookies!

From the sweet Kathleen at http://pastaandpeonies.com/

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients
1 can Pillsbury seamless dough sheet
1 ` 8-ounce block cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Beat the sugar, cream cheese and vanilla in an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Unroll the dough sheet and stretch into a rectangle shape.
Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, leaving about a 1/2-inch gap around the edges. Roll the dough up tightly and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.
After the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350°F. Slice the roll into 1/4-inch slices and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Eat warm or at room temperature. Store in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to two days.

These look easy--and yummy!

I'm going to try! Let me know if you do!?

Easy Breakfast Casserole!

I thought this sounded pretty easy and yummy--I plan to try it soon!

BREAKFAST FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE

1 long loaf French bread
8 eggs
3 c. milk
4 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. butter, cut in sm. pieces
Syrup or honey to pour over top before serving

  Powdered sugar

1/4 c of chopped pecans (optional)

  Generously butter a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Cut French bread into 2 inch thick slices. Arrange bread slices in single layer over

  bottom of pan. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla in large bowl until mixed. Pour over bread. (Can sprinkle a little cinnamon

  over top also if you’d like.)Cover with foil. Refrigerate overnight. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Dot casserole with butter pieces. Bake

  until bread is puffy or lightly browned, 45 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar serve warm 8 to 12 servings.

 

Wouldn't this be nice if you had overnight guests? You could make it ahead!

 



New Cookie Recipe!

A young lady who is a friend of mine on FB posted this yummy recipe

Thought I'd share it (even though I haven't had a chance to make it yet) :)

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Let me know if you try it! Enjoy!

Birdseed Bandit

Remember this little feeder Bri and I made?

Well...a little bandit came shortly after we hung it and

helped his greedy little self to it!

He finds it and starts to eat...

Then, if you look, you can see his little "hands" on it--he bit the string

and took off with it!

He got it on the ground and the rest is history!

Sorry the quality of these isn't good--I was taking it through the kitchen window,

and the sun was bright and there was a

reflection off the plants on the window.

It was the only vantage point I had though :)

For the Birds...

It has been many years since we made pinecone feeders for the birds, and

Bri and I decided it was high time to do it again! :)

We got some yarn, gathered some pinecones, bought some peanut butter,

dug into our bag of seed in the garage, and we were ready!

It was a little messy, but alot of fun!

Bri shows her technique

We hung them all around the yard, this one is being hung in our pinetree in

the front yard.

We tried to position them so that we can see them from the window

This one is outside our kitchen window

This one in the butterfly bush is visible from the kitchen as well

We didn't have to wait too long until we had some "customers"

This morning we woke up to a "surprise snow"

and the birds were already at the new feeders

The blackbirds swept into the other feeders in droves!

It was lots of fun--we love feeding and watching the birds!

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Matthew 6:26