No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

Last weekend we went to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and it sucked. A glorified, overcrowded art & wine festival, it was almost impossible to actually find any 'pumpkin' food, let alone pie or cheesecake. I think I saw 2 signs for the sought after and reason for being there pies but I never actually found the tents.

Leaving with a very strong craving for pumpkin cheesecake, I came across this recipe on facebook. Not quite a cheesecake, since it's no bake, it sure did hit the spot and take like 1/4 the time it would to make a real cheesecake. Plus my lightened & less sugar version hit the spot for my waistline and the Mister's racing figure.

This picture is horrible, I'll try to take another in daylight, if I remember, and Maiyo lets me have a few minutes to do it:-)

No Bake Light Pumpkin Cheesecake
Serves 4

12 Maria Cookies (crushed into crumbs)
1 Tbsp Butter (Melted)
8 oz Light Cream Cheese (Softened)
1 C Pumpkin Puree
1 tsp Vanilla
8 tsp Sugar (Divided)
2 tsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 C Whipping Cream

-Melt Butter in a saucepan then mix in the Maria Cookie crumbs. Divide the crumbs into 4 cups.

-Beat Cream Cheese until smooth then add in Pumpkin, Vanilla, 6 tsp Sugar, 2 tsp Brown Sugar and Spice and mix well.
-In another bowl beat Whipping Cream and 2 tsp Sugar until stiff peaks form.
-Fold Whipped Cream into Pumpkin and combine until mixed.
-Divide Pumpkin Cheesecake filling between the cups.
-Top with Mini Chocolate Chips, extra Whipped Cream or Cookie Crumbs as desired (wait until serving time to add cookie crumbs.)
-Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for up to 2 days.
-Gluten Free Version: use GF cookies or Chocolate Chips for the bottom layer or leave out all together.

Banana Monkey Bread

With the theme of Owls & Monkeys it was almost mandatory that I make a monkey bread and it just so happened that this particular recipe landed in my food mail box the week before the party! I couldn't have asked for better timing or a better recipe!

This one was another big hit, especially with the big boys. Tasting almost like mini-donut holes, though a bit denser, the banana was just a hint of flavor without overpowering, which was wonderful. The kneading took longer than the original recipe called so I would add more flour to the dough ahead of time.

Although the ingredients say this is a quick bread, the process to form these took about 2 hours +bake time. So just keep that in mind when making. Also, I got 20 muffins out of this recipe instead of the 12 noted in the original!

Banana Monkey Bread
Makes ~20 Muffins


Muffins:
3 1/4 C Flour + Extra for Kneading
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/3 C Shortening
1/2 C Buttermilk (I used 1/2 C Milk with 1Tbsp White Vinegar)
2 bananas, mashed

Coating:
1/2 C Butter (melted)
1 C sugar
1 1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze:
I used 1 C Sugar Cookie Icing and added 2 Tbsp Milk to thin it out

-In a medium bowl, stir together the Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, and Baking Soda. 

-Cut in the chilled Shortening using a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal

-Add the mashed Bananas and Milk and stir together with a fork just until the dough comes together. 

-Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times, adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

-Roll dough into tablespoon-size balls. 

-In a small bowl, stir together the Sugar and Cinnamon. 

-In a separate small bowl, melt the Butter. 

-Roll dough balls in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon-sugar. 

-Place 4 dough balls in each paper lined muffin cup.

-Bake at 400 for 15-20 mins or until toothpick lest clean. 

-Let cool about 15 mins then drizzle glaze over muffins and let sit another few minutes.

-Enjoy!

Foodie Penpal

Last month was my first time trying out Foodie PenPal, basically instead of sending a letter, you send a box of yummy goodies to a random participant. It's actually pretty awesome.

My send to person was Hayley of New York. I asked her about her food interests and she responded sweet & spicy with a gluten free dietary restriction, perfect for me to send some Mexican love. I shipped off a box filled with piloncillo, rosa de castilla, jalapeno jelly (by me), some homemade gluten free oat balls, a jar of coconut oil and a cute mini pumpkin.

My from person was Julie of Sugarfoot Eats. She sent me this wonderful box:

It had a super cute kitchen towel with cupcake prints and a handy wooden purse spoon & chopstick set, great idea Julie, thanks! For food, she included Stadium Mustard which I can't wait to try and some amazing 'Nuts on Clark" Honey Butter Toffee from her trip to Chicago! She also had a trip to Austin where she went to the actual Stubb's restaurant and sent me this chicken marinade! I've had their yummy pork marinade but can't wait to marinate (this weekend) some chicken, especially cuz it's tomato free!!!

And last, but certainly not least, she sent me a magnet from her tour of the actual house from A Christmas Story! How fun is that!

I'm really liking this foodie penpals thing so I'm already looking forward to this month's exchange and am on the lookout for some yummy treats, if you have any recommendations, let me know! (I'm thinking a bottle of cajeta for sure!)