Common Cuisine |

Cookie Crust:

• ¾ cup flour
• 2 ½ Tbsp sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup softened margarine
• ½ tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl stir together flour and sugar. Add egg, butter, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Carefully press dough evenly into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside.

Key Lime Filling:

• 24 ounces cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5 Tbsp sour cream
• 5 tsp flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• green food coloring (optional)

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and flour. Beat with an electric mixer till smooth. Add eggs and egg yolk, one at time, beating well after each addition. Beat in limeade concentrate, lime juice, and vanilla extract. Stir in green food coloring, if desired. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the crust.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 200 and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until the center no longer looks wet or shiny. Remove the cake from the oven and run a knife around the inside edge of the pan.

Honey Lime Glaze:

• ½ cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
• 4 tsp lime juice
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp finely shredded lime peel
• Fresh lime slices

In a small saucepan stir together limeade concentrate, lime juice, cornstarch, honey, and lime peel. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Pour over cheesecake. Garnish with lime slices. Chill till serving time. Makes 12 to 18 slices.

• 1 C crushed pretzels
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 C powdered sugar
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz whipped topping
• 1 can pie filling (cherry, blueberry, blackberry, etc)

In 9″ x 13″ pan, combine crushed pretzels, granulated sugar and melted butter. Press firmly into pan to form crust.

In medium bowl, cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese. Fold in whipped topping and spread over crust.

Spread pie filling over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate 2-3 hours before serving.

Makes 12-24 servings, depending how large you cut the pieces!

Somehow my children fell in love with blueberries. If anything has blueberries associated with it, they will eat it until their lips and fingers are purple-stained for two days.

I think it may have something to do with the sweet love Grammy whispers whenever she serves them up: You know, your eyes are so blue because of all the blueberries you eat!

There is just something special about the love Grammy adds to whatever she bakes.

• 1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3/4 C Sugar
• 3/4 C Brown Sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 C Sour Cream
• 1/4 C Milk
• 3 overripe bananas, mashed
• 3 C flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 C frozen blueberries
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 325.

In large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add sour cream, milk, and bananas, and make sure batter is well mixed.

In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture carefully to banana mixture, mixing just enough to moisten all the flour. Carefully stir in blueberries just before pouring into pans, overmixing will turn the entire batter grey.

Pour into 2 greased 9″ loaf pans. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp brown sugar on top of loaves.

Bake 70-80 minutes, checking carefully beginning after 60 minutes. When ready, a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf will come out clean.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack for one hour or until completely cooled. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator.

This kind of bread loaf freezes really well. Wrap first in plastic wrap, then in foil, then put the wrapped loaf in a Ziploc freezer bag. Thaw on the counter for about an hour before slicing and serving with butter.

This kid-friendly treat is a beautiful jewel on a plate of homemade cookies, and is so full of fruit and nuts it could practically count as a serving of fruit.

• 1 C dried dates
• 1 C golden raisins
• 1/2 C dried cranberries
• 1/2 C dried apricots
• 1 Tbsp Orange Juice
• 1/2 C white chocolate chips
• 1/2 C walnut pieces
• Granulated sugar

In a food processor, place dates, raisins, cranberries and apricots. Pulse several times until fruits are well chopped. Add Orange Juice to help with mixing.

Add white chocolate and nuts to mixture. Pulse a few more times until mixture has a slightly chunky consistency.

Roll mixture into 1″ balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar.

Serve in individual candy cups. Makes about 40 sugar plums.

Homemade applesauce is easy, and does not even require a recipe.

To make a lot:
Core and quarter as many apples as you can fit into the biggest pot you have. Skins are ok. Put about ½ cup water in the bottom of the pot. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for about half an hour, until the apples get soft. Then put apples into a food processor or blender in batches until they are all pureed. Sprinkle a little cinnamon, a little less of nutmeg, and then add a couple tablespoons or so of sugar if you think it needs it, to taste. Eat up!

To make a little:
Core and quarter several apples (4 to 8). Core and quarter, don’t peel. Put a little water in the bottom of a medium sized pot. Cover and cook on medium-low for about half an hour, until soft. Puree, add spices as above, and serve warm or chilled.

To make it pink:
After pureeing, put applesauce back into the pot and bring to a simmer. Stir in a handful of cinnamon “red-hots” candy pieces. Simmer and stir until candy dissolves into applesauce. No other flavoring needed. Serve warm.

To make it exotic:
When adding spices, stir in about a half-teaspoon of vanilla.

To keep it from getting brown:
Crush a chewable vitamin C tablet, dissolve it in a tablespoon of hot water, and stir it into the sauce.

• 1 loaf raisin cinnamon bread
• 16 oz. bag frozen or enough fresh raspberries to cover first layer of bread
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 1 C plain yogurt
• 8-10 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)
• 2 tsp vanilla

Topping

• 1/4 C soft butter
• 1/2 C brown sugar

In a 9″ x 13 ” greased baking dish, place slices of bread to cover bottom. Arrange raspberries in a layer on top of bread. Spread cream cheese on an equal amount of additional bread slices, which will become the top layer. Place bread, cream cheese side down, onto berries. Mix milk, yogurt, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla together and pour over bread mixture so that it covers top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix topping and spread on top of layered french toast. Bake for about 50 minutes. Top will be slightly brown and a little crusty when done. Serve drizzled with raspberry sauce or syrup.

Trifle consists of layering four ingredients, usually into a clear bowl so you can best see the layers: cake, pudding, fruit or candy, and whipped topping. Here are two extremes and a fun variation. Feel free to invent your own combinations!

Just a Trifle

• 1 whole angel food cake
• 1 large package vanilla pudding, including milk to prepare pudding
• 1 package strawberries, sliced and tossed with 2 Tbsp sugar
• 16 oz tub whipped topping

Tear cake into bite-size pieces. Layer half the pieces in a trifle bowl, or other clear serving bowl. Prepare pudding according to package directions and layer half the pudding on top of cake. Layer half the strawberries, followed by half the whipped topping. Repeat layers.

Refrigerate 2 hours before serving. Makes 12 servings.

Not to be Trifled With

• 1 box devil’s food cake mix, including ingredients to prepare cake
• 1 large package chocolate pudding, including milk to prepare pudding
• 4 Nestle Crunch bars, or Toffee Bars, broken into small bits
• 16 oz tub whipped topping

Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Let cool.

Tear cake into bite-size pieces. Layer half the pieces in a trifle bowl, or other clear serving bowl. Prepare pudding according to package directions and layer half the pudding on top of cake. Layer half the strawberries, followed by half the whipped topping. Repeat layers.

Refrigerate 2 hours before serving. Makes 12 servings.

Dirt (Just for kids)

• 1 box red velvet or chocolate cake mix, including ingredients to prepare cake
• 1 large package chocolate pudding, including milk to prepare pudding
• Gummy Worms
• 16 oz tub whipped topping
• Crushed Oreos

For this cake, make only one set of layers instead of the usual two.

Prepare cake according to package directions and let cool.

Tear cake into bite-size pieces. Layer cake in trifle bowl or other large serving bowl. Intersperse gummy worms throughout the cake layer and on top. Prepare pudding according to package directions, then fold together with whipped topping. Sprinkle Oreo crumbs on top.

Refrigerate 2 hours before serving. Makes 12 servings.