Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

I found this recipe in a Nestle Holiday Recipes book that I picked up at a grocery store years ago. I've tweaked the recipe over the years and turned it into my most popular bake to date. It's pretty easy to make and I'm yet to find a single person who doesn't like it. Here it is...

What you'll need:

1 package of Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough (breaks off into 24 squares)
2 packages (8oz each) of cream cheese at room temperature
1 can (14oz) of sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 can (about 21oz) of pie filling. I use cherry but you can use strawberry, blueberry or apple
24 cupcake liners and muffin pan

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees F.
Line 24 muffins/cupcake cups with paper cupcake liners
Take the cookie dough bar and use a chef's knife to cut the dough into squares (the dough should be pre-cut and you can break the squares off by hand but I prefer to cut them and get a cleaner cut... I'm picky that way)
Press each square into the bottom of each paper cup and pop into the oven for no more than 8 minutes
While the cookie bottoms bake, take the cream cheese, condensed milk, eggs and vanilla and mix them in a bowl until smooth.
Take the cookie cups out of the oven and immediately pour about 3-4 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture onto the cookies. Take care not to fill the liner to the top because the cheesecake will rise.
Place back into the oven and continue to bake for 22-24 minutes.
Take out of the oven, let cool and spoon your choice of pie filling on top.
Refrigerate the cups for at least a couple of hours and...

ENJOY

Puppy Cake Pops

I made these pops for the Southern Nevada Beagle Rescue Foundation the other day. It was my first experience with fondant. I must admit, I cheated and did NOT make the fondant from scratch. I simply bought chocolate fondant from Michael's (I should own stock in that place) and rolled it straight out of the box. All I needed was some confectioner's sugar to keep the stuff from sticking to every surface in my kitchen. I rolled it really thin and used small leaf cut outs, also purchased from Michael's. One bit of advise for anyone reading this who has not worked with fondant before... work fast cause it dries up at a remarkable rate. Once the leaves were cut out, I used icing to stick them to the pops. The eyes are black confetti icing and the rest of the face is dark chocolate that I piped on.

I included chocolate pops with paw prints on the top just to mix it up but rumor has it that the puppy pops were much more popular.

Tinkerbell themed party cake pops

My cousin's little girl had a Tinkerbell themed party this last weekend for her 5th birthday and I decided to make some treats for the kids. I kept it simple with pastel colored pops with flower shaped icing.

I arranged the pops in a stand I made out of two sheets of round styrofoam that can be purchased at Michael's. I glued the two sheets together to make the stand thick enough to hold up the pops. Then I glued yellow construction paper around the edge and wrapped it up with a ribbon. It's easy and cheaper than buying a stand.

Finished Product. Happy Birthday Brianna!