Coffee & Donuts for Dessert!

What goes better together than coffee & donuts? That seemed like a great name for this creation of mine. I entered it into a recipe contest last year but they must have misplaced it, because it didn't win anything! hahaha. This is a very yummy donut-crust cheesecake bar. One of my friends still insists it's the best recipe I've ever come up with. If you can get Krispy Kreme's for this, definitely use them. I tried using store brand donuts once and it did not turn out as well.

Coffee & Donuts

8 - Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Donuts
2 - 8 oz pkgs cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/3 cup - sugar
2 - eggs
1 tsp - vanilla
1 tbsp - instant coffee
2 cups - semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup - heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9 x 13 baking dish. Cut up doughnuts in large pieces and place in food processor. Pulse until doughnuts resemble very coarse crumbs. Take doughnut crumbs and press firmly into the bottom of the baking dish. In bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, coffee, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Spread mixture evenly on top of doughnut layer. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes (until center starts to rise and look a little dry). Let cool. While bars are cooling, combine chocolate chips & cream in a double boiler. Stir until the chocolate chips have melted and mixture is smooth. Pour chocolate over the cheesecake bars and spread evenly. Put bars in the refrigerator to cool. After 2 hours, cut into 24 squares and then place back in the fridge. Cool for 2 more hours or overnight. Then serve and enjoy!

Food Fact Friday: I Want a Mudslide

Today is National Kahlua Day! Who even knew Kahlua day even existed? Kahlua is definitely my favorite liquor. You can use it in everything from
Frozen Mudslides to Espresso Kahlua Brownies.


Kahlua was created in 1936 in Mexico. Only hand picked, high quality Arabica coffee beans are used to make Kahlua. The coffee beans are grown at an elevation between 900 and 1400 meters in a semi-tropical environment that is ideal for this crop. The beans are grown under the shade of trees, allowing the beans to ripen slowly without the use of pesticides.

Kahlua is a rich, dark brown coffee liqueur made from Mexican coffee, a blend of rums and a hint of vanilla. It also contains sugar and vodka, and has a thicker body than most other alcoholic beverages. Kahlua is the 2nd largest single liqueur brand worldwide. It first made its way into the United States in 1962.

Something I'm Working On....

I'm trying to develop some recipes for Ultimate Recipe Showdown and Pillsbury Bake-Off. This is a dessert that came out really well! I just want to make a few tweaks to it...

Creme Brulee for the Holidays

I'm proud to announce I'm officially a member of Florida Foodies Restaurant and Travel Magazine! It's a great blog that highlights innovative recipes and fun destinations all over Florida.

My first contribution is a great recipe I came up with, Pumpkin Pie Creme Brulee. Be sure to check it out!

My First Daring Bakers Challenge!

Late last month, I decided to take the plunge and join Daring Bakers. I cook much more than I bake, so I thought this would be a great way to sharpen my baking skills. I was patiently awaiting my first challenge, then it finally arrived...Opera Cake (for the original recipe click here).

My first thought was, Opera what? I had never really heard of Opera Cake, but when I saw the pictures, of course it looked familiar. I have to admit I was a little bit intimidated, the cake looked yummy, but complicated for sure. Then I read the recipe and was even more scared, so I decided to procrastinate.

Last night, I finally decided to be brave and bake the Opera Cake. I re-read the recipe and decided to separate it into two days. Day 1 would be the Syrup (for moistening the cake), White Chocolate Mousse (the top layer), and Buttercream (the middle layers). Day 2 would be the Joconde (cake layers), Glaze (to pour over the Mousse), and Assembly.



Day 1: I was contemplating what flavor to make my cake. I love cherries and thought that would go great with vanilla and white chocolate (we could only use light colors and flavorings, no coffee or chocolate) so Cherry Vanilla it is.

White Chocolate Mousse - The Mousse was very simple. We were to add a flavoring to the Mousse so I added Kirsch (a cherry liqueur). It came out so well! I was thinking about all of the delicious things I could eat with it.

Vanilla Syrup - it was very easy, just boiling together sugar, water, and vanilla extract. This is used to moisten the cake.

The Buttercream - My last endeavor for the day...I was nervous because I had never made Buttercream with a hot sugar syrup and eggs before. I thought some catastrophe would happen, like the eggs curdling or the sugar crystallizing. Now I'm so glad I made it this way, I didn't have any problems and it had to have been the best tasting Buttercream I've made. It was super creamy and not as buttery as I thought it was going to be. I'll be following this recipe for any other Buttercream I decide to make. The flavoring of the Buttercream was vanilla, and I also sauteed some cherries with cinnamon and added them as well. Then I put all my creations in the fridge and was ready for the next day.



Day 2: Now I'm getting excited, yesterday was fun and everything tasted great. I couldn't wait to see what the final product came out like.

Joconde - We were supposed to use almond meal, but I decided to grind my own almonds. I was a little short on almonds so I threw in a little extra flour. The cake came out perfectly and tasted great.

Glaze - The glaze turned out good, perfect consistency for spreading. I had a little extra, so I put extra big spoonfuls on top of my mini Opera Cakes.

Assembly - This wasn't as bad as I thought. I used a biscuit cutter to cut circles, and spread the layers of Buttercream and Mousse on each piece. It looked good, but it did take extra time to do every individual piece. The scary part was the glaze, but that's okay if you drip some off the side...more white choclate goodness!

Baking an Opera Cake was definitely a challenge, but it was fun! I encourage everyone to try this out, it is not difficult, but it is time consuming (about 5 hours!). The final result tasted delicious. I will definitely be making this again and trying out some new flavors.

Double Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

Last night I was craving something with peanut butter for dessert. I rummaged around and discovered an egg and chocolate chips (but no butter) so i thought I'd just go ahead and try to make cookies. After looking at several recipes, I came up with my own. They came out good! I'm going to try to eat 1 per day so I'll put a bunch in the freezer. This recipe makes about 1 dozen cookies.



1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy, natural)
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips & flour. Stir until peanut butter is thoroughly incorporated. Then add flour until incorporated, then fold in the chocolate chips. Drop in heaping tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 14 - 16 minutes (until the top of the cookie looks dry). Let cool for about 10 minutes then Enjoy!

Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cones

I've been having a major sweet tooth lately. I started to roam the aisles at Publix and caught myself staring at all the ice creams I shouldn't have. Then my eyes stopped on the brand new Skinny Cow cones. The Chocolate was calling for me. Plus, each cone has only 150 calories. Before I ate it I was trying not to get my hopes up too high (and also hoping it had that yummy chocolate at the bottom like Drumsticks). Last night I tried one. I lucked out! It was really good AND it had the little bit of chocolate at the bottom of the cone, my favorite part. These are going to be my new sweet tooth staple...next time I'm going for the Mint Chocolate if I can find it (they also have Vanilla Caramel).

Chocolate Truffles

This past weekend I was experimenting with a cake I'm developing for a contest. The topping of the cake was chocolate ganache. I guess I over estimated the ganache needed so I had some extra...WOOHOO! Lots of ideas ran through my head, but Truffles seemed like the best one. They were very easy to make and delicious! This recipe should make about 20 truffles.

1 bag chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cocoa powder (the truffles with the light coating are covered with ground almonds, I had a small amount of them left and crushed them in my magic bullet)

Over double boiler, heat cream & chocolate chips. When chocolate is almost completely melted, take off heat and continue stirring until completely smooth. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 or more hours. When ready to make, pour cocoa powder on a plate. Take ganache out of fridge and scoop out large tablespoons. Roll in your hands until a ball forms (this part is a little messy). Then roll the ball into the cocoa powder (or almonds) until it's covered well and not sticky. Then roll the truffles around your fingers (or a paper towel) to get the excess cocoa powder off. Place completed truffles back in the fridge and enjoy at your leisure! (I'm sneaking about 1 a day)

Yummy Mint Chip!

I have been craving some good ice cream lately and went with my all time favorite...Mint Chocolate Chip. I wasn't sure which brand to buy, but I didn't want a huge amount lingering around my freezer so I went with Häagen-Dazs Mint Chip. This has to be my favorite store bought brand of mint chocolate chip. It's super creamy, has the perfect amount of mint, and the perfect amount of dark chocolate pieces. This is going to be hard...but I decided to eat 1/4 cup (150 calories) every other night for a treat. After all, I've been doing pretty well at working out (trying to lose a few more lbs for the Pillsbury Bake-Off next month) so I think I deserve a little extra ice creamy goodness.