Homemade Apple fritters

Irish Man's Stew

Dream Clouds

Drunken Heart

Chocolate hearts with jack daniels whiskey caramel sauce

Dude Cupcakes

Peanut butter, cookie dough, chocolate cupcakes!

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberries

 

You will need...  

Graham crackes, 4 crackers.

3 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted ( think i used more than that)

fresh raspberries

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 cup water

2 cups white chocolate chips

1/2 cup half-and-half cream

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (never measure vanilla, i just pour in a little)

 

1. In a medium bowl, mix together graham crackers, 3 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, stirring occasionally until smooth.(thats one way, i just put mine on the stove, depends on what you have)
3. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour batter over crust.
4. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from pan. (what i find that is the best for making cheesecake, is wrap foil on the outside of your spring form pan(so no water gets in) and then put that pan in a larger pan(i use my roasting pan) and put boiling water in the larger pan. it makes the cheesecake much more fluffier.
5. When cooled place raspberries on top, with white chocolate shaving. 

 

Royal Icing

Royal Icing
(This will cover 2-3 dozen 3.5 inch cookies in 2 colors; I usually double this recipe.)

4 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp light corn syrup
few drops clear extract (optional)


Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.

Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)
 
Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired. ( I think the corn syrup helps keep the icing shiny.)

Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.


(You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.


Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding."