Strawberries and Cream Dessert Squares

These bars taught me that I need to stop baking when I get home from work late at night. I was rushing to get the crust part done and misread the instructions, overcooking the crust by a few minutes. Alas, they were still yummy, and they were a super easy way to make a tasty dessert with one of Florida's seasonal fruits.

Layers of deliciousness.

Ingredients:

Crust
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg

Filling
1 cup white vanilla baking chips (6 oz)
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

Topping
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
10 to 12 drops red food color, if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 15x10x1- or 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

2. In small microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips uncovered on High 45 to 60 seconds or until chips are melted and can be stirred smooth. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Stir in melted chips until blended. Spread mixture over crust. Refrigerate while making topping.

3. In small bowl, crush 1 cup of the strawberries. In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Stir in crushed strawberries and 1/3 cup water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in food color. Cool 10 minutes. Gently stir in remaining 3 cups strawberries. Spoon topping over filling. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set; serve within 4 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.

Source: Betty Crocker

Mini Raspberry Tarts

We hadn't had a potluck at work for several months, and since I was soon going to be out of the office (becauseOMG
Ihaveababynow), we decided to have one, just for fun, a few weeks ago.

I had seen this recipe in a magazine and knew I wanted to try it. Coincidentally, I found it in the middle of my husband's yearly obsession with raspberries, so the timing was right and I deemed the potluck a good occasion to try them.

I was afraid to make the tarts too thin, and I only made 24 instead of 36 ... they puffed up quite a bit in the oven and were not too thin at all, so my initial fear was unfounded, but luckily they collapsed in the middle nicely so that I could still fill them with the cream cheese mix. I didn't have orange zest, either, so I substituted a few drops of orange flavoring.

These taste amazing - EVERYONE was asking me about them and telling me how much they liked them. I think they look a lot more complicated than they actually are, so if you want to impress people with appearance and taste, this is a good way to go. I was fine with just having 24 of them, and I had a good amount of filling and didn't have to worry about breaking the sugar cookie dough in to the 36 parts. And this way I could bake both of my mini-muffin tins at the same time and not have to do a second round in the oven :)

Ingredients

1 (16.5-ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less fat block-style cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
32 fresh raspberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a mini-muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Divide sugar cookie dough into 32 pieces. Coat hands in flour, and roll pieces into balls. Press each ball into tin, forming dough up and around into the shape of a tart.


Bake for 11–12 minutes or until golden. Let cool 10 minutes in pan.

Remove tarts, and cool completely on a wire rack. Using an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla. Spoon cream cheese mixture into each tart.


Top each with a fresh raspberry. Chill until ready to serve.

Source: Health magazine

Hawaiian Delights

For this round of Operation Baking Gals, I continued my search of trying to find an easy, yummy cookie that would travel well and stay fresh. I don't know if I've succeeded on the travel well/stay fresh part (if I hear from our soldier, I'll let you know!), but I did use a recipe that was easy and yummy.

I found it while browsing through a Christmas cookie recipe book I got from work ... but it's not Christmas-specific at all.

The only drawback to what I baked for Sarah, our soldier? I know there are a lot of people in the world who don't like nuts and coconuts. But I hoped that even if Sarah was one of those people, the others in her unit might like them and help eat 'em up.

Ingredients:

1 18-ounce package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (salted or unsalted)

1 cup sweetened coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all three ingredients in bowl with a fork. Drop rounded tablespoon mounds of mixture onto ungreased cookie sheet.


Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden. Cool on baking rack.

Source: O Christmas Treats: Favorite Cookies From St. Petersburg Times Readers

Cookie Pizza

My husband's coworkers had a poker party a few weekends ago, and I volunteered to provide some baked goods. I wanted to try something new, and I found something that I will definitely be making again: Cookie Pizza. This was also one of the few baking successes I had that week, so it's especially near and dear to my heart now.

I was unsure of the "sauce" at first, but after trying it, I'm convinced. This stuff is good. And it was easy to make. My only issue was the amount I could make - I wasn't close to two circular pizzas, but the one 13x9 pizza I made went quickly, and the "crust" wasn't too thick. I think I'll make it again with the 13x9 format. I think other toppings could easily be added or substituted, too.

Ingredients:

1 (18-ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

2 cups candy-coated milk chocolate pieces (like M&Ms)

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1/2 cup peanuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide cookie dough in half; press each half onto ungreased 12-inch pizza pans. (I used 16.5 ounces of cookie dough and baked it in a single 13x9 pan.) Bake 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven.

2. In medium saucepan, melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk. Spread over crust(s). Sprinkle with chocolate pieces, marshmallows and peanuts.

3. Bake 4 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly toasted. Cool. Cut.