Summer – Mackinac Island, Family and Fudge

Hi Everyone! I have to apologize it’s been sooo long since I’ve written anything on here. I’ve been busy doing different things and creating new recipes. One of my favorites so far are the Maple Fudge Peanut Butter Bars I made using some fudge I bought while I was visiting Mackinac Island with my sister. We had such an awesome time on the island.

We haven’t ever spent time on the island without having conferences or something to go to too. So we were able to take advantage of all the different touristy things on this visit. One of my favorite things was the ghost tour. We had so much fun walking through town in the dark and then we got to go ghost hunting at Mission Point. I can’t recommend Haunts of Mackinac enough. Our hostess was very animated when she was telling us the stories and was very informative and entertaining. So much so that we were to scared to walk the three miles back to our hotel in the dark and instead took a taxi back. And by taxi I mean a horse and carriage with a driver. The picture below is not our carriage, but it is one of the carriage tours on the island. I took the picture below at Arch Rock.

We also visited arch rock. When I went up the Nicolet Watch Tower, there was a young couple taking in the view, and the young man asked if I could take their picture. I said sure, I can do that. So he handed me his phone and then whispered “actually take a video of us”. He then proposed to his girlfriend. It was the sweetest thing ever! I tried to see if they posted the video anywhere, but I haven’t been able to find it, and I didn’t get their names or anything, all I know is that they were visiting from Colorado. I wish them well though.

We also explored Anne’s Tablet, saw the crack in the island, and Sugar Loaf Rock. There are just so many things to see and do on the island, we were there for three days and didn’t get to see everything. We also visited both Fort Holmes, which wasn’t open yet, and Fort Mackinac, and had lunch at the Tea Room there. The view was amazing.

       Fort Holmes on Mackinac Island

View from The Tea Room at Fort Mackinac

I also went into numerous fudge shops to sample the fudge. I ended up purchasing some fudge from Murdick‘s, which of course is hands down my favorite fudge there. It is just so creamy and rich. I love it. I decided to use the maple fudge to make some bars. I adore the combination of maple and peanut butter. I’ve also made Maple Nut Peanut Butter Cookies, which are still one of my favorites.

Maple Fudge Peanut Butter Bars

• 1 Cup Butter
• 1 Cup granulated Sugar
• 1 Cup packed Brown Sugar
• 1.5 Cups Mighty Maple Peanut Butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. Maple Extract
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 2.5 Cups Flour
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Slice of Frozen Maple Fudge, diced

Preheat the oven to 350. Freeze the fudge for at least fifteen minutes before dicing, or it will stick together in a big clump, then keep the diced fudge in the freezer until you are ready to add it to the dough. Meanwhile, Cream together the Butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, mighty maple peanut butter, eggs, vanilla and maple extract.  In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking soda together. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture a little at a time and mix between each addition. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated add in your fudge and mix for 10 -15 seconds. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan, spreading the dough and pressing it down into the corners. Bake until dark golden on the edges, about 20 minutes, adjusting the time as necessary.

You could also make these into cookies instead of bars, by forming into balls and baking for 8 – 10 minutes.

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Things have been a little nuts around here lately. I am beginning a house hunt. I am a little worried that I am not going to find anything, because I am super picky. I do have a ton of ideas pinned on pinterest, but some of the houses I’ve seen online are super ugly. Someone painted their wood floor white, and it was peeling and gross looking. And the wall paper! EEK! I hate wallpaper!  So this should be interesting. There isn’t any hurry to find a house though.

To get back to the recipe, I decided to use the crescent roll dough to make something with cinnamon and sugar. This dessert has always been one I enjoy at potlucks and such. The original recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars is from Pillsbury.

I modified the recipe by cutting down the amount of sugar and butter and then I added some cinnamon extract along with the vanilla extract to the cream cheese filling.

These have a nice sweet cinnamon flavor and are super easy to make. The crescent rolls I used have seams in them, but you can substitute them for seamless ones if you wanted to.

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

• 2 packages of refrigerated crescent roll dough (8 oz each)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz each)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon extract
• 2 tbsp of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350

Line a 9 x 13 pan with aluminium foil or parchment paper, making sure to overlap the sides of the pan, so you can lift it out later, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Press one can of the crescent roll dough in the bottom of the pan, pinching together the seams and stretching to cover the bottom of the pan.

In a small bowl mix the 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Set Aside.

Add the cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla and cinnamon extract to a large mixing bowl. Whip until smooth and creamy. Spread over the crescent rolls in the pan.

Open the second can of crescent rolls, unroll it and carefully lay it over the top of the cream cheese mixture, being careful to stretch and spread it all the way across the pan.

Melt the butter and brush across the top of the crescent roll dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top, being sure to cover it evenly.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the top is dark golden brown and the middle is set. Let cool at room temperature for about thirty minutes, then refrigerate until chilled, for at least one hour. I chilled them overnight.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

It’s SPRING!!! Well close enough anyway. 🙂 I am so excited that it is finally March. There is so much to do! I am already planning what I’ll plant out on my deck. I love flowers, spring, summer and best of all the warm weather. Although I could do without the dumb bugs, like mosquitoes, june bugs and cicadas. Ick. But it’s a small price to pay for summer!

So in celebration of the upcoming Spring, I made Lemon Cheesecake Bars. These have an intense lemon flavor. I love it when a flavor is super strong and in your face. These are definitely not your ordinary lemon cheesecake bars. Super lemony and they are super easy to make.

I had four cans of crescent roll dough and a bag of lemons donated to me because a relative no longer needed it. I was debating what to do with them, when it hit me. Lemon Cheesecake Bars!! Yum! I was thinking of modifying the Sopapilla Cheesecake Bar recipe, but then happened upon this post from all recipes: Lemon Cream Cheese Bars.

I love lemon and I wanted to make this recipe a bit more lemony. Two lemons just isn’t enough in my opinion, I like a BAM! IN YOUR FACE! Lemon flavor. I don’t like subtle flavors AT ALL. If it’s lemon, it should scream lemon.  So I added an additional lemon, extra zest and some lemon extract. They turned out great! Super lemony and creamy.

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of refrigerated crescent roll dough (8 oz each)
• 3 lemons, juiced
• 4 lemons, zested, divided (3 for the cream cheese mixture and 1 for the topping)
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz each)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Line a 9 x 13 pan with aluminium foil or parchment paper, making sure to overlap the sides of the pan, so you can lift it out later, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Press one can of the crescent roll dough in the bottom of the pan, pinching together the seams and stretching to cover the bottom of the pan.

In a small bowl mix the four tablespoons of sugar and the zest of one lemon. Set Aside.

Add the cream cheese, lemon juice, zest from three of the lemons and the lemon extract to a large mixing bowl. Whip until smooth and creamy. Spread over the crescent rolls in the pan.

Open the second can of crescent rolls, unroll it and carefully lay it over the top of the cream cheese mixture, being careful to stretch and spread it all the way across the pan.

Melt the butter and brush across the top of the crescent roll dough. Sprinkle the sugar and lemon mixture that was set aside in the first step.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let cool at room temperature for about thirty minutes, then refrigerate until chilled, for at least one hour. I chilled them overnight.

Enjoy!

M & M Fudge Brownies

I have been craving chocolate like crazy and I had butter and eggs  I needed to use up.  So I decided to make some M & M Fudge Brownies.  The recipe is based off of the recipe I found in the book that came with my KitchenAid stand mixer.

Here are the ingredients, all lined up and ready to go.

To begin place one stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl and melt it.  Also preheat your oven to 350.

Butter, Yum!  Then add the cocoa and oil to the butter and mix it all up.  You don’t want to taste it at this point. Also it looks deceivingly chocolaty but it tastes awful as there is no sugar in it yet.

               

Now set that chocolate mixture to the side and grab another mixing bowl.

In the clean mixing bowl add your other stick of butter which should be nice and soft and add in your sugar and vanilla.

Using a mixer, either a stand mixer or hand held mixer will work, mix it on low for about 30 seconds and then crank it up to medium-high speed and mix it for another couple of minutes until it looks similar to this:

Then start adding in your eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for about 10 seconds or so between each addition.

I normally use farm fresh eggs so I always crack them into a glass first to make sure there aren’t any beaks in them.  That happened to me once. I’ll never be the same again…

Now that all the eggs are incorporated it’s time to add in the chocolate mixture that you made in the first step.

I forgot to take a picture of the next couple of  steps. Whoops!  My Apologies!

Once the chocolate is all mixed in nicely, add in the flour and salt.

After the dry ingredients are mixed in the batter, add the m & m’s and stir to combine.

Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan.

And add additional M & M’s to the top.

Bake for about 45 minutes.  Cool Completely Before Cutting.

M & M Fudge Brownies

1 Cup Butter (2 Sticks) Divided

3/4 Cup Cocoa

3 tbsp Oil

2 Cups Sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup Flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 Medium bag of M & M’s

Preheat the oven to 350. Melt one stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Once melted add in the cocoa and oil, stirring until combined. Set Aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar and vanilla on low speed until combined, then on high speed until creamed, about two minutes.  Add the eggs one egg at a time beating after each addition for about 10 seconds.  Slowly add the chocolate mixture, beating until combined.  Add the flour and salt and mix until a smooth batter forms, then add the M & M’s stirring lightly to combine. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for 40 -45 minutes. Cool completely before cutting and serving.