Cream Cheese Pound Cake!

Oh yeah .... YUMMY. This pound cake is perfect. It's heavy like traditional pound cakes, but it's very moist. There are a couple tricks to this cake. There are no leavening ingredients, which means you've got to incorporate a lot of air into the batter. The butter, cream cheese and sugar need to be beaten for a while. Like, 5-7 minutes. (This is obviously easier with a stand mixer.) It's going to triple in size and it should be very smooth. When it's in the oven, do NOT open the door while it's baking. The cake will fall in the center. Let it bake the entire time. Now, if you're like me and have the misfortune of having an older oven or an oven that isn't calibrated quite right, you'll need a barrier to keep it from burning. I don't have a flat pizza stone anymore, so I actually use my 9x13 stone on the bottom rack. My bundt pan is not very big and the cake spilled over the sides while it was baking. Doesn't make for a very pretty cake when it comes out, but it tastes AWESOME regardless. :) I have seen that it can be baked in a 10 inch tube pan or two 9 inch loaf pans as well. I will be using the two 9 inch loaf pans today. If you don't have cake flour and don't feel like running to the store to get some cause you have everything else - sift 3 cups of all purpose flour and remove 6 TBSP.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 eggs

3 cups cake flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare your pan - spray/grease/butter (I used spray and flour, and I had problems with it sticking, so I'll be using the spray on it's own and see how it fares).

Cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until it's light. (This is where I was telling you it needs to go for 5-7 minutes.) Add the vanilla and almond extracts. Add flour and eggs alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (or until a toothpick comes out clean....)

Apple Dumplings

This is another one of Pioneer Woman's recipes ... you know I adore that woman and her blog! She's getting so famous... I'm slightly jealous. lol Moving on! I've had a few requests for this EASY and YUMMY dessert, so here it is!

Apple Dumplings

2 GRANNY SMITH apples - if you don't use GS apples, it won't turn out right! Do it!

2 cans crescent rolls - not the jumbo kind.. the regular little ones that come 8 to a can

2 sticks of butter - yes.. you read that right. lol

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tsp vanilla

cinnamon

1 can of Mountain Dew - DO IT!

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. (One of those corer/slicer things work well for this) Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9x13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and BARELY stir. Add vanilla, stir, then pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew (if you use a regular size can, you won't need the whole thing. I've found you need a LITTLE bit more than the small can for it to have enough sauce) around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. (And yes, that's the longest 40 minutes of your life).... Serve with ice cream and spoon some of the sauce from the pan on the top.

Pampered Chef Fruit Pizza

Obviously from the title ... It's a PAMPERED CHEF recipe!! WWOOOOOO!

18 oz roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough

1 (8oz) cream cheese - softened
1/3 cup sugar
approx 4 cups fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press dough by hand onto a stone or cookie sheet. Use lightly floured roller to almost cover the pan.

Bake 13-15 minutes until lightly golden. (You want to slightly underbake it from my experience. If you cook it too long, the cookie gets really crispy, then it's just no good. lol)

Cool 10 minutes, loosen cookie with a long spatula or knife.

Combine sugar and cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Spread on cooled cookie. Arrange fruit on top of cream cheese. Slice with a pizza cutter.

Cherry Cheese Pie

I think I got this recipe also from allrecipes.com

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

1 (8 oz) cream cheese - softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups frozen cool whip - thawed
1 can cherry pie filling

In a bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Fold in cool whip and blend until smooth. Spoon into crust and spoon pie filling on top. Chill for 2 hours.

Easy Apple Crisp

I think I got this recipe from allrecipes.com

2 cans apple pie filling
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread pie filling in an 8x8 dish, sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Cream together butter and sugar. Cut in flour with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until filling is bubbly and topping is brown.