Tuesday, August 19, 2008

This luscious reduced-fat cheesecake, with a crust full of nutritional goodies, is really a very creamy pumpkin pie that easily could become a traditional favorite on Thanksgiving or any special family dinner.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2 tablespoons plus 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 packages (8 ounces each) reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel)
16 ounces soft silken tofu, drained
1 can (16 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons dark rum or bourbon
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place oats and walnuts on baking sheet and bake 5 minutes until lightly toasted. Transfer to food processor. Add wheat germ and 2 tablespoons brown sugar and pulse until finely ground. Transfer to a 9-inch springform pan and press mixture into bottom of pan.

2. In food processor (no need to rinse), combine cream cheese, tofu, pumpkin puree, whole eggs, egg whites, rum, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, salt, and remaining 1 cup brown sugar and process until smooth. Pour batter into springform pan.

3. Bake 1 hour. Turn oven off, prop oven door open slightly and let cake stand 45 minutes in turned-off oven. Cool to room temperature, then chill overnight before serving.

Via Kimberley!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

14 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Graham Cracker crumbs (store bought works well also)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
5 packages (8 oz each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

DIRECTIONS:
Mix crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch spring form pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition, just until blended. Blend in sour cream. Pour over crust.

Bake for 10 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 250 degrees F, bake for about 1 hour and 5 minutes or until center is almost set. Run a small knife around the rim of the pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Top with Cherry pie filling.

Other serving suggestions:
1. Cut up fresh strawberries and arrange them on each slice of cheesecake, then glaze with Strawberry Preserve
2. Using a milk or dark chocolate bar (Ghiradelli works well,) shave off chocolate curls, using a knife. Arrange them on top of each slice of cheesecake.

Tips: To cut perfect cheesecake slices, use a wet knife.

Storage suggestions:
1. This will stay fresh up to 3 days in refrigerator and 1 week in freezer. Cover with plastic wrap or a cake box with a lid.

Via Pastry Whiz

I made this for a dinner this past Friday night and it was a huge hit.  Everyone wanted a piece to take home and it was super easy to make. 

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Ingredients:

1 pkg.  (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
4 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1/4 cup caramel topping
1/4 cup chopped PLANTERS Pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Beat cake mix, 1 cup of the pumpkin, the milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. of the pumpkin pie spice in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Pour evenly into prepared pans.

Bake 28 to 30 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely. Beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add sugar, remaining pumpkin and remaining 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Stir in the whipped topping.

Cut each cake layer horizontally in half with serrated knife. Stack layers on serving plate, spreading the cream cheese filling between layers. (Do not frost top of cake.) Drizzle cake with caramel topping just before serving; sprinkle with the pecans. Store leftover cake in refrigerator.

Monday, September 04, 2006

1 Box yellow cake mix
1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 jar (16-17 oz size) of hot fudge topping
1 jar (7oz size) of marshmallow creme

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease bottom only of 13x9 pan with shortening.  Beat cake mix, cracker crumbs, water, oil and eggs on low speed for 30 seconds, beat on medium for 2 minutes and then pour pan.  Reserve 1/4 cup of hot fudge topping.  Drop remaining hot fudge by generous tablespoonfuls randomly over cake batter (about 12-14 mounds).  Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and run a knife along he side of the pan to loosen cake.  Cool for 15 minutes.

Spoon teasponfuls of marshmallow creme onto warm cake; carefully speak with knife dipped in hot water.  Drop small dollops of reserved hot fudge topping randomly over marshmallow creme with knife creating a marbled design.  Cool for 2 hours.  Store uncovered at room temperature. 

Serves 15

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix and bake yellow cake mix as directed, but back only for 20 minutes.  While cake is baking, mix the rest of the ingredients together until it forms large clumps.  After cake has baked for 20 minutes, sprinkle crumb mixture over cake and bake for 20 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Friday, January 20, 2006

2 pkg (8 oz each) Philadelphia Fat Free Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Dash ground nutmeg
1/3 cup Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/3 cup thawed Cool Whip Free Whipped Topping

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix until blended. Do not overbeat after adding eggs. Remove 1 cup batter; stir in pumpkin and spices. Spray 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray; sprinkle bottom with crumbs.

Pour remaining plain batter into crust. Top with pumpkin batter.

Bake at 325�F for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Top each serving with 1 tbsp of the whipped topping.

Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 150
Total fat: 2.5g
Saturated fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 65mg
Sodium: 340mg
Carbohydrate: 23g
Dietary fiber: 1g