Recipes To Share!

I named this blog after the words I have written on my kitchen wall-"Come, sit down, and enjoy what I have prepared for you"

It conveys what I want people who benefit from my love of cooking to feel-loved, special, worthy of my time to make something they will, hopefully, enjoy!

They are my Guinea Pigs and know it! My most recent taste test was for America's Test Kitchen's Carrot Cake made with organic carrots from my garden-too yummy! Just the right amount of spice and the Cream Cheese Frosting was...the icing on the cake! I will post the recipe soon.

I love America's Test Kitchen recipes because they have already done a lot of trial and error and explain why recipes work and don't work.

This blog was also started to share tried and true recipes I love and would like others to experience. All recipes have been altered by me to accommodate my family's preferences! Please refer to the publication(s) for the original versions. Just look for the title-those I have left the same unless otherwise noted.

For this Thanksgiving Holiday, I am going to share a recipe from Taste of Home called Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. They are really good and even those who don't like cream cheese will like these. I love that the recipe can easily be doubled without having to double the crust layer-I made it in a 15"x17" pan for a crowd. I cut them into squares and piped some whipped cream with a pastry bag-you could also just use the whipped cream in a can. These come out so completely flat-my two boys even noticed! Super great alternative to pumpkin pie for a large crowd! Here is the version using a large pan, like my 15"x17" jellyroll pan-ENJOY!

Ingredients

1 (16 oz.) box pound cake mix (usually found with the cake mixes)

5 large eggs

2 tbsps. butter, melted

4 tsps. pumpkin pie spice, divided

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened

2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk

2 (15 oz.) cans pumpkin

3/4 tsp. salt

 

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine cake mix, 1 egg, butter and 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice in large bowl until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into bottom of 15 x 10-inch jellyroll pan.

Beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk; beat in remaining 4 eggs, pumpkin, remaining 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice and salt; mix well. Pour over crust. 

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill. Cut into bars or squares.