blueberry buckle

I didn’t take any pictures while we baked because a certain someone was eager to lick the bowl.  Also, we’re barely unpacked from a 2,100 mile cross-country trip and it was a small miracle just to find the camera.  This is just another classic summer fruit recipe.  Take advantage of fresh, local produce and do something good with it.  Personally, my favorite way to eat berries is right off the bush, but layered in cake batter and smothered in a crumbly topping isn’t bad, either.

There are a ga-zillion versions of blueberry buckle awaiting you on the internet.  I’m not sure this one is much different, at all.  It’s done in a spring form pan versus a cake pan, but that’s about it.  It would also be easy to adapt for baking in individual ramekins.  Eat it in the morning with coffee, or add freshly whipped cream or a little dollop of vanilla ice cream and call it dessert.  Versatile, but classically summer!  Enjoy!

Blueberry Buckle

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 c granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c milk (I used 1%)
• 2 c blueberries, washed and de-stemmed

Topping:

• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 c unsalted butter, cut in to mixture cold

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375° F.
2. Cream together butter and sugar.  Add egg to mixture.  Set aside.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add to butter/sugar mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with milk.
5. Add blueberries.  Fold to combine.
6. Place in prepared 9″  spring form pan, add topping, and bake for 35 minutes.

 

 

***Baker’s Notes:  If you only have an 8 1/2″ pan, bake for an additional 10 – 15 minutes longer.

baked blueberry clafoutis

Since our decision to kick cable t.v., to the curb, there’s a lot less television-watching in our house.  We’re down to NetFlix and about 25 channels, twelve of which are in Spanish and of no use to anybody.  The other twelve or so are home shopping (still not useful), local affiliates (mainstream programming not my taste), and PBS.  So, I’m watching a lot of PBS.  And, hey, I’m a member, so no guilt trips, please.

One of the shows we see…well, I see pretty regularly as my partner-in-crime is snoozing away on the other half of the couch, is a great gardening show called Growing a Greener World.  One of the best things about it is the cooking segment at the end of each show.  Chef Nathan Lyon (Tweet him @chefnathanlyon – he even tweets back), always seems to be cooking up something fresh and easy-to-prepare with nutritious ingredients you don’t have to hunt down at a specialty store.  It’s nothing over-the-top.  Just healthy, simple fare you can throw together for a weeknight meal for your family, and always a little unique to impress your guests.  I don’t own his cookbook, but I’m definitely going to get it given the rave reviews I’ve gotten with his recipes, so far.

This one was from an episode we watched last night.  Again, I watched, hubby dozed.  I’d made a traditional cherry clafoutis at my mom’s one summer a number of years ago.  It was delicious.  How could it not be delicious?  It’s full of eggs and a tiny bit of sugar and fresh fruit.  And, it’s fun to say!  What I discovered after baking this one; blueberry, is the French are particular about their clafoutis.  It’s apparently only a clafoutis if it’s cherry.  If you bastardize it, as the French would undoubtedly claim, by baking it with blueberries, or any other fruit, it’s considered a flaugnarde – not nearly as fun to say, but equally yummy.  They’re not too sweet, since there’s really not much sugar compared to other desserts, and have a wonderful texture – more like a custardy-tart, since you use a minimal amount of flour to bind all the egg and creamy loveliness together.  The texture is creamy, a very thick custard, and melts in your mouth.  The berries hold their shape nicely, so there’s good texture in the fruit, as well.  Call it what you will: clafoutis or flaugnarde, it’s good eats!

Serve it warm, dusted with powdered sugar or a little heavy cream.  Personally, I found it just as delicious served cold.  Personal preference.  Enjoy!

Baked Blueberry Clafoutis

Recipe Courtesy: Nathan Lyon, Growing A Greener World, Episode 116

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 Tbsp granulated sugar, separated
• 5 whole eggs, large
• 1 cup half and half, or whole milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tsp)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pint blueberries (12 oz)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F
2. In a medium, oven safe, non-stick sauté pan, combine the butter with 2 Tbsp granulated sugar and place over medium heat. (Be careful not to let butter brown).
3. Meanwhile whisk the eggs plus the remaining 2 Tbsp sugar on high speed until tripled in volume and pale yellow in color (about 5 minutes). Then, by hand, gradually whisk in the half and half or milk, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, and flour until just incorporated. It should look light and foamy at this point.
4. Pour this mixture into the hot pan, top with the blueberries, then transfer into the oven. Bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top, and the Clafoutis has puffed up.
5. Remove from the oven, and turn out onto a cutting board. Slice, and serve with the optional powdered sugar.

***Baker’s Notes:  Don’t try to skimp too much on the calories with low-fat or skim milk.  Your end product will be watery and unsatisfying.  At the very least, I’d say 2% milk, but whole milk or half and half are truly best.  I used the full pint of berries and, even though I love blueberries, I thought it was a lot of berries.  I might experiment with 8 ounces next time.  Mine baked for 24 minutes and I actually spun it under the broiler for a few minutes to give the top a more golden appearance.

nutella swirl pound cake

My local grocer had Nutella on sale the other day.  I stocked up.

Fortuitously, I also re-acquainted myself with this recipe while looking through some older pins on my Pinterest board.  At that very moment I was thinking, “I’ve got so many pins on this board I’ll never find anything to bake.”  And, then?  There it was.  Nutella Swirl Pound Cake.  And me having just stocked up on Nutella, and all.  It seemed like the only sensible thing to do.

I have to admit I was sort of happy to be baking this by myself, because I don’t think I’ve ever tasted such creamy batter.  So delicious, I couldn’t imagine having to share the bowl with…anyone.  The yellow batter is spectacular.  Amazingly delicious.  I’m not sure why I was so moved by it other than the fact there was not a hint of granulated sugar to be felt on the tongue.  Truly the smoothest batter.  Ever.  Now add a couple of layers of Nutella and, well, there are no words!!

Dip your knife or spatula in and swirl.  Make sure you do a good job of this.  I don’t think I swirled enough and my cake ended up a little bottom-heavy with Nutella.  Pop it in the oven and commence to bowl-licking.  Then, once it’s baked and cooled, pour yourself a tall glass of milk and enjoy a little slice of Nutella Nirvana.  Good stuff.  Good stuff.  Enjoy!

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake (recipe adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes, Taunton Press, 2009)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup)  unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 13-ounce jar Nutella (see Baker’s Notes, below)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°. Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour. In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.
3. Spread one-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not over mix.
4. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.

***Baker’s Notes:  I don’t know what the original recipe said in terms of the amount of Nutella, but the adapted version I found over at Food & Wine suggested using the entire jar of Nutella (13 oz).  I love Nutella, but I have to say it’s overkill in this recipe.  It’s just too heavy and wet.  Half the jar would have been more than sufficient to create just what the recipe title suggests:  a swirl of Nutella.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious, but given the quantity of Nutella, I’d have renamed it just plain old Nutella Pound Cake.  That said, it was really good.  The cake was moist and creamy and difficult to resist.  I’d definitely make it again with the mentioned adjustments.

spice cake

This cake could be frosted, but there might not be enough left to frost after everyone discovers how yummy it is.  So, if you frost it, do so quickly.

There are no prep pictures of this cake because I threw it together on a whim one evening after a bout of tears in the grocery store parking lot.  We’d been decorating for Christmas and we opened up several boxes of things I’d brought from my mom’s house last fall.  It was hard.  Really hard.  Walk-away-to-get-my-car-keys-to-go-to-the-grocery-store-for-some-obscure-item-so-I-can-sit-anonymously-crying-in-the-parking-lot hard.

And if there’s anything to make me feel better in an emotionally charged moment, well, it’s a good cry in a parking lot and baking a cake!

As I said above, if you want to frost it, don’t let anyone near this cake until you’ve done so.  I planned on it (a nice brown butter drizzle would have been excellent), but it was sliced and packed into lunch boxes before I had a chance.  After that, consensus was just leave it be.  It’s perfectly delicious without frosting and frosting is messy in lunch boxes, anyway.  This cake would make a wonderful addition to a holiday brunch buffet, in which case I’d definitely frost it to give it that finishing touch.  I think you’ll love it either way.  Enjoy!

Spice Cake (recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook)

Ingredients:

• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 c low-fat buttermilk

Directions:

1. Grease a 13×9 baking pan, or grease and lightly flour a 9″ bundt pan; set aside.  Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high-speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and vanilla; beat till well combined.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  Add dry mixture and buttermilk alternately to beaten mixture, folding in after each addition just until combined.  Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in a 350° oven for 35 to 40 minutes for the 13×9 pan, or 45 minutes for the bundt pan, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Cool sheet pan completely on wire rack.  If using bundt pan, cool for 10 minutes on wire rack.  Remove cake from pan and cool thoroughly on wire rack.

***Baker’s Notes:  The original recipe suggested baking in either the sheet pan or 2 8 1/2 inch cake pans, but I wanted a bundt cake.  Mine is a 10 1/2″ bundt pan which can hold between 10 and 15 cups of batter.  This recipe makes about 8 cups of batter, so my bundt pan wasn’t anywhere near full to capacity.  Therefore, the finished cake was a little thinner than if I’d used a smaller bundt pan.  My baking time was 45 minutes.  If you use a smaller bundt pan, just make sure to check the cake at about the 45 minute mark.  It may need a little more time.  When the cake begins to pull away from the edges of the pan, you’re just about there.

baked s’mores – not just for the campfire

Kat and I had a girl’s night last night while Daddy-O was at the Stanford/ASU game.  We baked homemade mac/cheese (her all-time favorite meal) and settled on the animated version of A Christmas Carol for after dinner entertainment.

But what of dessert?

Ice cream?  Too cold.

Popcorn?  Too last Friday night.

Baked S’mores?  Why, yes, please and thank you!

These are pretty much a no-brainer.  You don’t really need a recipe.  Just keep your eyes on the s’mores at all times lest they quickly turn to ash under the broiler.

Baked S’mores

Ingredients:

• Graham Crackers
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate pieces (Hershey, Dove, you choose)
• Parchment paper for easy clean-up

Directions:

1. Pre-heat broiler to 500° F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Break crackers in half, placing one half on baking sheet and reserve other half to top your S’more.  (Or, bake both sides and eat them open-faced.)  Place one marshmallow on each cracker.  Heat under broiler until tops of marshmallows are golden brown.  Turn off oven and remove pan.
3. Top melted marshmallow with the chocolate pieces of your choice.  For these I used dark chocolate Dove candies.
4. Slide pan back in the oven for 25 -30 seconds, or until chocolate starts to melt.
5. Remove and top with remaining graham cracker halves to complete your S’mores.
6. Indulge!

raw brownies

Sooooo…while I’m on a roll with recipes I think were good, but failed me for one reason or another, let’s cut to the chase.  These sounded great.  I’d made something like them, a no-bake homemade power bar, and posted the recipe over on my other blog.  Not sure why I never got around to sharing them here, but…click over and give them a try.  They’re really good and a big hit on my Pinterest page.  But I’m wandering off topic here.  Let me stick to the raw brownies.

Kat started Brownies last week and I’m helping out as an “assistant troop mom.”  I can’t juggle the responsibility of a troop leader, so I’m doing my best to carry at least some of the weight for the mom who has agreed to shoulder the burden.  During our discussions about snacks for the girls during meetings, we decided processed sugars were out.  Kids eat way too much junk, anyway, and part of our goal is to show and set good examples for them to take into their every day lives.  Teaching them the value of eating whole foods is part of that lesson.

Hence, raw brownies for Brownies.

Sadly, that’s not how the story ended.  The girls never ate the brownies.  The brownies, although absolutely delicious, ended up in the garbage.   Because even though they looked pretty when I plated them, and they have an uber-chocolately delicious flavor, they looked like this as soon as we put a fork to them:

I exchanged a couple of comments back and forth with the author of the original recipe, Tina Jeffers, and we decided the dates I used probably weren’t fresh.  Having worked with dates before in other baked goods, I noticed they seemed a bit dry when I was handling them for this recipe.  This doesn’t surprise me as I didn’t buy them at my usual health food market, but picked them up on a quick trip through Albertson’s – where, in my experience, freshness isn’t their motto!

Long and short of it, I’m going to pick up more dates…at Sprouts, this time, and give these another try, because the flavor was amazingly chocolatey and delicious.  These wouldn’t be a tough sell to a bunch of hungry Brownies, either, and would be a great lesson in how everything sweet and delicious doesn’t have to be unhealthy!  Enjoy!

Raw Brownies (recipe courtesy Scaling Back Blog)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole walnuts, divided
• 2 1/2 cups Medjool dates, pitted
• 1/2 cup raw oats
• 1 cup raw cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1-2 tablespoons cocoa for dusting

Directions:

1. Place  walnuts and oats in a food processor or food chopper and blend on high until the mixture is finely ground.  Add cocoa and salt and pulse to combine.  Add the dates one at a time, running the processor continuously.  The mixture will ultimately be crumbly but will hold together in a ball if you roll it between your hands.
2. Even press the cocoa and date mixture into a 9×9 pan, then place the pan in the freezer or fridge until ready to serve.  Lightly sprinkle with cocoa before serving.

***Baker’s Notes:  Make super sure your dates are fresh!  You can also use, as I did, a 9 inch cake pan, and serve in wedges.

nutella sandwich cookies

Despite the beauty of technology and the ability I have to catalog and cross-reference all my recipes online, I still keep a big, honkin’ three-ring binder full of recipes I collect from various places.  I don’t know why.  I guess I’m a tactile kind of person.  I need the tangible product; the book, the magazine, the sheet of paper.

With some regularity, I add to the file, or go through it for inspiration I’m just not finding on the internet.  That’s hard to believe given how much great cooking and baking there is out there in the vastness of the web.  Anyway, being in an old-school kind of mood, I was flipping through clippings the other day looking for something to bake.  I haven’t baked in a while.  It’s summer.  It’s hot.  I swore not to turn my oven on until October.

But I have yet to master baking on the grill.  And we needed something to occupy us as the days of summer wind down and the start of school looms.  And what better way to take a little girl’s mind off the looming start of school than by baking.  With Nutella!!!!

These cookies are simple and delicious and it’s taking all the willpower I can muster not to eat more than one.  A day, that is.  They’re brownie-like and chewy and that Nutella center is heavenly.

I like Nutella.  A lot!  Eat them with milk icy cold from the fridge.  Enjoy!

Nutella Sandwich Cookies (recipe courtesy Radically Simple)

Ingredients:

• 13-ounce jar Nutella
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (not melted)
• 1 extra large egg
• 1 1/4 cups self-rising cake flour (I used regular self-rising flour)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.  Beat together 3/4 cup of the Nutella, butter, and egg.  Slowly add the flour until a wet dough forms.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently, adding more flour if necessary; the dough will be sticky.  Divide the dough into 18 pieces and roll each into a perfect ball, flouring your hands as you go.  Place several inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake 10 – 12 minutes, until firm.  Cool 10 minutes on the sheet.

Using a serrated knife, split each cookie in half horizontally.  Spread each bottom half with 1 tsp Nutella.  Replace the tops, pressing lightly.

Serve!

***Baker’s Notes:  On the baking time, err toward the lower end.  My first batch stayed in closer to 12 minutes and I thought they were a little harder to slice in half because they were crisper.  For a softer cookie, I’d recommend 10 minutes.  Also, next time I’d use all-purpose flour on my hands to roll them into balls.  Self-rising flour contains salt and rolling them with the self-rising flour gave the outer part of the cookie a hint of salty flavor.  That’s not a bad thing if you like the sweet/salty combination.  Just a head’s up to anyone who would rather not taste a hint of salt in their cookie.

orange julius

It’s hot.  While I was frittering away time in the air conditioning going through some of my mom’s old cookbooks, I came across an undated version of God’s Country Cookbook, a compilation of recipes from the women of Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City, Michigan.  My brother-in-law’s dad, Dean Bailey, was formerly the senior minister at Central United Methodist.  I’ve lost track of the years he served, now, but I’m guessing this cookbook to have been put together sometime in the early 1990s.

During that time, I spent a few Sundays at CUMC.  My oldest niece was baptized in the sanctuary there; the younger two each on the shores of East Grand Traverse Bay during CUMC Worship in the Park.  Last summer, only months after my own mom passed away very suddenly, my brother-in-law’s mom, Jan, passed away unexpectedly, as well, and during our annual pilgrimage to the Leelanau Peninsula last July, we celebrated her life with family and friends in the sanctuary at CUMC.

So it was with a bittersweet, tear-stung desire for relief from the heat I came across this recipe in this particular cookbook…memories of my mom scrawled in handwritten notes in the margins, and the realization of the upcoming anniversary of Jan’s death.  And also, by golly, that Methodist women bake a lot of casseroles!

That just needed to be said.  Things were getting a little heavy there.

Now, back to the heat, and ice cubes, and frozen concentrate, and relief from an already oppressive summer when summer hasn’t yet begun.  These were so fun to make and are the liquefied version of a Good Humor™ Creamsicle.  Delicious!!  For the record, this is not a thirst-quenching beverage.  If you want to quench your thirst, drink a glass of ice water or a frosty beer.  An Orange Julius is all about the pretty, and the fun, and beating the heat on a hot day with your kids during summer vacation.  Our forecast is creeping up on 110°.  I think it’s safe to say I’ll be making these again.  Enjoy!

Orange Julius

Ingredients:

• 12 oz can frozen orange juice
• 1 c. water
• 2 c. low-fat milk
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 10 or 12 ice cubes

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a blender.  Serve immediately.  This can also be frozen and re-blended for serving at a later time.  It doesn’t get any easier than that!

cocoa fudge cookies

Two or three times a year we have a “movie night” in our cul-de-sac.  A neighbor has an inflatable outdoor projection screen.  They stream Netflix  through their iPhone and….well, I don’t know how all the techie stuff works, but I do know I got to watch Cars II on a gorgeous spring evening with a lot of other families and their kids, noshing all sorts of tasty treats.  That’s one of the rules:  bring a treat to pass!  There’s never a shortage of food…or wine, for that matter!

This time around we opted to bring cookies.  I was scanning the contents of my pantry and spotted the unsweetened cocoa, which became my inspiration ingredient because I’m always looking for an excuse to add cocoa to baked goods.  A quick Google search turned up these little lovelies from Cooking Light.  I wasn’t the least bit surprised when they baked up thin and crispy because the picture provided with the recipe clearly presented a thin cookie.  But I was surprised to bite into one and discover, between the crisp exterior, an almost brownie-like inside.  Thin, yes, but soft and chewy and nicely contrasting to the original texture.

These cookies were delicious on their own and perfect for dunking, but given their crispy outsides I think they’d also be perfect for making a sandwich cookie.  Maybe even an ice cream sandwich-type cookie.  I didn’t try it, but I would think the outer cookie would hold up nicely if you added a layer of ice cream after they’ve cooled completely.  Serve immediately, of course.  Cookies and ice cream are not meant to be eaten slowly.  Enjoy!

Cocoa Fudge Cookies (courtesy Cooking Light, January 2002)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Nutritional Information (provided by Cooking Light):

Amount per serving

• Calories: 78
• Calories from fat: 31%
• Fat: 2.7g
• Saturated fat: 1.6g
• Monounsaturated fat: 0.8g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 0.1g
• Protein: 1g
• Carbohydrate: 13.4g
• Fiber: 0.5g
• Cholesterol: 7mg
• Iron: 0.5mg
• Sodium: 54mg
• Calcium: 12mg

eggnog cheesecake bars

The strangest thing about this recipe is that I’m neither a fan of eggnog, nor cheesecake.  It’s not that I’m completely repulsed by either one of them, I just don’t eat or drink them.  I’d be hard pressed to find cheesecake on a dessert menu and be even remotely tempted.  During the holidays, I’d much rather drink mulled wine than eggnog.  Maybe it’s their names:  cake made of cheese?  Nog made of eggs?  I don’t know.  They both generally fly under my radar and I don’t feel less for rarely, if ever, experiencing either.

So, why, you ask, Eggnog Cheesecake Bars?  Good question!  I guess the answer comes down to basics:  I fell for a pretty picture in a recipe!  The ingredient list may contain things I don’t normally eat, but paired with good photography…well, anything is possible.  Luckily, the pretty picture and the finished product went hand in hand because we were going to dinner at a friend’s house and I’d offered to bring dessert.  Nothing like trying something new only hours before you’re expected to show up with something edible!  But these were delicious.  The recipe calls for sprinkling with nutmeg (classic eggnog topping), but I opted for some grated chocolate, instead.  Either would be great.

Take that from someone who doesn’t care for cheesecake…or eggnog.  Enjoy!!

Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, unsalted
• 2 c crushed chocolate graham cracker crumbs (I used Chocolate Teddy Grahams)
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 c eggnog
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• nutmeg to sprinkle on top

Crust:

Mix 1 stick of melted butter with 2 cups crushed chocolate graham crumbs. Press into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake for 8 min at 350°.

Filling:

Combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, eggnog, and eggs  and mix well.  Add chocolate chips.  Pour over crust and spread evenly.

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Cool completely and sprinkle with nutmeg before serving.