Saturday, November 3, 2012

Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes



My son, Danny, had wanted a Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecake for his birthday, but life was so crazy at that time, trying to get ready to leave for Florida, that he settled for Brownies. Anyway, after we got back I decided to make Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes for him. He is a good sport, and was very excited that he was getting his own little cheesecakes that he didn't have to share with anyone. So today, I am sharing my recipe for Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes. 

Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes 

Ingredients: 
2 granny smith apples (peeled, cored, and sliced) 
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1/8 tsp nutmeg 
1/8 tsp cinnamon 
2 tsp cornstarch 
1/4 cup water plus 2 tb water 

1 8 oz package cream cheese 5 to 6 oz sour cream 2/3 cup sugar 
1/3 tsp vanilla 
1 1/2 eggs 
2 tsp cornstarch 
8 tb dulce de leche or some kind of a thick caramel sauce 

2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs 
1/3 cup butter melted 
1/3 cup sugar 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I used an extra large muffin cups pan. 

Because I can't find foil liners for it I lined 4 cups with foil and then sprayed them with non stick cooking spray 

Next put your apples, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a small sauce pan with the 2 tb water. 

Turn heat to medium and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until apples have softened. 

Mix the 2 tsp cornstarch and water together and add to the apple mixture and bring to a boil. Cook until thickened. Then removed from heat. 

While the apples are cooking, mix the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. 

Then press the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the foil lined muffin cups. 

Bake for 20 minutes. This is so the crust does not get soggy from the cheesecake. 

Take the crusts out of the oven and let sit while you are making everything else. 

Next, with a mixer, whip your cream cheese. 

The egg part is a little difficult. I added one whole egg to the cream cheese, and the next egg I added part of the white, and the broke the yolk in half with the shell and just added half of the yolk. 

I then mixed that in well with the cream cheese. 

Next add the sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch. 

Mix until smooth. 

The next thing you will do is add 1/4 of the apple pie filling to the bottom of each muffin cup. 

Next pour 1/4 of you cheesecake mixture on top of the apple pie filling. 

Then add 1 tb dulce de leche to the cheesecake mixture in each muffin cup and gently swirl the caramel into the cheesecake mixture with a knife. 

Put in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until center is firm 

Pull out of oven and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes.  

Then spread 1 tb over the Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Put in refrigerator to finish cooling and gently remove foil before serving. 

Serves 4 

I hope that you like this recipe for Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes. I always love hearing from you, so send me your comments. 

Enjoy!!! 
Debi
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Friday, November 2, 2012

Hot Apple Pie Cocktail



Welcome everyone for another Friday Happy Hour.  Today we are having Hot Apple Pie Cocktails.  They are delicious and super easy.  I am in Naples, Italy today, and tomorrow we are off to Rome.  It has been fun spending time with my wonderful husband and making lots of new friends.  

So here is our cocktail for today:

Hot Apple Pie Cocktails



Ingredients:

1 package instant apple cider (or 6 oz apple cider heated)
6 oz hot water if you are using instant apple cider (if using fresh cider you don't need water)
1 oz Tuaca (it's a liqueur)
whipped cream

Directions:

Mix apple cider and hot water in a mug

Add 1 oz Tuaca.

Add whipped cream on top and you are ready to roll.

Serves 1

That's it ladies.  This is so good and easy.  I always love hearing from you so send me your comments.

Enjoy!!!
Debi

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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Mini Dutch Apple Pies


I love apple pie, and because I am basically lazy, Mini Dutch Apple Pie is great because I only have to make one crust.   I also love the cinnamon, brown sugar, and oat topping that I make for my Mini Dutch Apple Pie.  A few weeks ago I had bought a few packages of Pillsbury Grands Crescent Rolls, thinking that they would be an easy way to make some different recipes.  I thought the crescent rolls would make a great crust for these cute little apple pies.  After tasting them, I can tell use they were a great choice.

Since I have started writing the blog, I had to start measuring ingredients,  that is something that I don't normally do, but for all of you, I measure.  I figure that I can't just tell you to pour the ingredients in a bowl,  that wouldn't work for you at all. So being a good blogger friend I measured everything out in order to write out this great recipe for you.  So here it is, my recipe for Mini Dutch Apple Pie.

Mini Dutch Apple Pie

Ingredients:

6 granny smith apples ( peeled, cored, and sliced)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water  + 2 TB water set aside
1/2 tsp cinnamon'
1/3 tsp nutmeg
1 TB cornstarch
1 can Pillsbury grands crescent rolls

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flour'
1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray non stick spray in 3 large muffin cups of a 6 muffin cup pan.  These make the large muffins not the regular size.

Next put the apples, 1/4 cup water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small to medium sized sauce pan.  Stir well and cook over medium heat, until apples are soft.

Mix cornstarch and water, and then add  to the cooked apples and cook for a minute or two, until the liquid is thickened.

Next, open the package of crescent rolls.  Press the crescent rolls into rectangles.  You will have three crescent rolls  to make three pie crusts.

Meanwhile,  mix all of the ingredients for the topping.

Then, put the crescent roll dough into three of the muffin cups.  Put the dough into the bottom of the muffin cups, and fold the dough on the top of the sides into a rustic looking pie crust. 

Next, put the apple pie filling inside the crescent roll crust.

Then sprinkle the topping over the 3 mini pies.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Take out of oven, remove mini  Dutch Apple Pies from muffin tin and cool on rack.

Serve hot or cold

Makes 3 Mini Dutch Apple Pies

I hope that you like this recipe.  It is really delicious and easy to make.  Send me your comments, I always love hearing from you.

Enjoy!!!
Debi

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Rigatoni Carbonara and Wednesday's Adorned From Above Link Party 34


Welcome everybody to Wednesday's Adorned From Above Link Party 24, and I am also giving you a great recipe for Rigatoni Carbonara.   I will post the recipe for the Rigatoni Carbonara after all of the information for today's Party.

I just want to remind everybody, that I am away on vacation so I will post the featured bloggers for the last two weeks along with the featured bloggers for this week on Wednesday, November 7th.  I really appreciate all of you sharing your wonderful posts and links while I am away.  I haven't had a chance to look at everyone's links yet, because the internet is very expensive on the cruise ship.  I am grateful that I am able to write my posts offline, and then just go on quickly to publish them.

I am very excited because on Monday I got to participate in an Iron Chef on Celebrity's Cruise's Silhouette with one of my table mates, Bridgette Khoury, from Montreal.   We were the sous chef's for one of the chef's on the ship.  It was a blast.  We had to create a meal in 15 minutes with one minute to pick the ingredients.  The chef made lamb chop, which looked outrageous.  I have no idea how they tasted, because the judges were the only ones who tasted the food.  We did not win, but it was exciting to participate, and we did win a bottle of champagne.
 
Anyway,  we were in Malta yesterday, and today we are in Naples.  I love Italian food.  Which is fitting since today I have put Rigatoni Carbonara on the menu.

Now on to the party. Welcome, again,  to my Wednesdays Adorned from Above Link Party 24.   I hope that all of you have fun, and I can't wait to see all of your beautiful work from last week.  You are all truly amazing.  I want to thank all of you for your support of Adorned From Above.  I really appreciate all of the time you take to link to my parties.  Keep up the good work.

Let's Party!!!

Your posts can include anything, I would love to see what you have been up to.



Rules:

1. Follow me in some way;  G+, GFC, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

2. Visit at least 2 other links and leave some comment love.

3. I would love for you to link back to me in some way.  Either a link or a button.

4. Your posts can include anything, including giveaways and etsy shops.

5. Have a link somewhere on your post to Adorned From Above, and visit some other posts - after all it is a party.

So, Rigatoni Carbonara is one of my favorite dishes.  I choose to use rigatoni over fettuccine, because I love the way the rigatoni holds the sauce inside and around the pasta.  I have used bacon in this dish, but you can use pancetta.  I just did not have any available when I was making dinner.  I love the salty taste of the pancetta or bacon with the egg on the pasta.  It is a very simple Italian meal to prepare, and wonderful for a quick dinner.  So here you go, the recipe for;


Rigatoni Carbonara

Ingredients:
1 lb rigatoni
1/2 tsp salt
1 tb olive oil
1/2 lb bacon  cooked and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 eggs
pepper to taste
2 cups parmesan cheese

Directions:

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.  Add salt and olive oil.

Add rigatoni and cook 12 to 15 minutes.  I prefer the pasta al dente ( which means it is a little chewy,  I don't like it too soft )

Drain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking beat 3 eggs well in a bowl, add the pepper.

Once is it mixed well and the rigatoni is cooked add the egg mixture to the pasta and stir well. 

The hot pasta cooks the eggs, so you do not have to worry that you are eating raw eggs.

Next, add the bacon, and mix well again.

You can now add the parmesan.  I always put it on top of the rigatoni, because my husband is allergic to cheese, so I top our our Rigatoni Carbonara with parmesan at the end, but most people add it in before serving.  It helps make a very nice sauce with the egg and bacon.

Serves 4 to 6

This can be made as a meal in its own right, or you can use it as a first course for beef, chicken, or fish.

Thank you so much for coming by today.  I hope you like the recipe and the party.  I always love hearing from you, so send me your comments.

Have a great week and ENJOY!!!!
Debi


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