Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

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I first had these bars at my paella party this summer where someone brought them unexpectedly. Luckily I was able to grab one because before I went back for another they were all gone!

At that party they were served warm and they were delicious but I have to say I think the flavors stand out better when served cold, more like a traditional cheesecake.

These are great because they seriously have only 7 ingredients and I often have them on hand. I am also a big fan of desserts that can be made in a 9 by 13 dish because they feed lots of people and travel easily.

These were definitely the favorite thing I made at the Cinco de Mayo party. The crunchy cinnamon sugar top and the melt in your mouth cream cheese layer made people ask for seconds and thirds.

So go make them! You won't regret it!

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

recipe adapted from Cookies and Cups

Makes 30 bars

Ingredients

2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Unroll one can of crescent rolls and press into bottom of 9 by 13 pan.  Pull the dough around until it fits all the way into the edges of the pan and is sealed.

With a mixer, blend together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over bottom layer of crescent rolls.

Unroll 2nd can of crescent rolls over cream cheese layer. Pinch edges and seams closed.

Melt butter and pour over the top layer of crescents. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle evenly over butter.

Bake for 30 minutes and check to see if top is golden brown and most of butter is cooked. Bake for an additional 10 minutes if necessary.

Let cool 20 minutes before refrigerating at least 2 hours to chill.

Cut into bars and serve.

Enjoy!!

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!

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I feel like it's time to be real with you guys.

I sure wish I had time to plan parties and execute them before the actual holiday in order for me, to provide you, my lovely readers, with great ideas and recipes. However, if we are being real here, I am not nearly that on top of it.

I was lucky to even pull off my own Cinco de Mayo party on the cinco and not end up with a Siete de Mayo party, tehehe.

So I hope you still love me. I hope you get something good out of this for next year's Cinco de Mayo party or perhaps you want to have a Cinco de Junio party next month. Or just a Mexican fiesta themed event in general, I think these would all apply!

But without further ado, my little Cinco de Mayo fiesta from this weekend:

Decorations:
I tried to stick with red, green and white colors to be as authentic as possible! If you don't want to buy specific decor just use what you have that is red, white and green or just bright fun colors.

 I made this little banner for the door out of construction paper and ribbon. My original plan was for this to be much much bigger but as the hours ran out I opted for mini instead, which I liked :)

 Fiesta decorations...I think these are from Hobby Lobby!

 That bowl actually is from Mexico. Jason and I bought it on our honeymoon and I even haggled the price down in Spanish, very much impressing my new husband. 

Drinks:

Maybe it's because I don't drink alcohol that I am always looking for fun drinks to spice a party up. This time I opted for homemade virgin Pina Coladas and Jarritos (a Mexican soda you can find in most grocery stores either in the soda aisle or the Latin food aisle). Both were a hit! 

 Plus it matched my red and green theme!

 

Pina Coladas for the guests! I used my recipe here, but I usually just  throw the ice, pineapple and coconut cream in the blender until it tasted good!

I also added some mango too and that made a yummy Mango Pina Colada!

Appetizers:

Just a few this time since we were having enchiladas for dinner!

 Friends brought different salsas to share, next year I think I would do a salsa competition!

This cute salsa bowl was only $.99 at H.E.B.

Word to the wise: Do not serve guacamole in the same dish you make it in. Good thing my friends are really good friends, they didn't care what it looked like but I am embarrassed of this photo!

White queso dip. This was gobbled up! Recipe to come!

Main course:

 Pans and pans of enchiladas! Lots of people to feed!

 

Homemade refried beans not fried at all! 

 Sour cream enchiladas, these could have been better,

 I feel like I haven't found the best enchilada recipe yet!

 Homemade pinto beans in the crock pot, these were delicious, recipe to come!

   Homemade black beans with cilantro lime rice (not pictured)

Dessert:

Sopapilla Cheesecake...amazing! Recipe coming soon!

Anyways, recipes to come! I hope you had a great Cinco de mayo! Did you make anything delicious? Have a party? Was there a Pinata?

And just to prove I actually have people attend my parties, a group shot: 

 Thanks for coming guys, hope you had fun!

Almond Joy Bars

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I have made so many desserts recently and I feel like only a few of them have been, "Wow!" desserts.

Last week I made homemade Samoas bars and I was disappointed in their texture and flavor, especially for the amount of work bar desserts often require.

These bars, however, did not disappoint, the coconut layer melts in your mouth and I love the nostalgia of making your favorite candy into a bar.

These don't have too many steps either.
The crust only has 4 ingredients and you just mix them together.

Then press the crust mixture into the pan and bake for around 8 minutes.

While that is baking, mix together your coconut layer of coconut flakes, 

sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.

 Press into pan and then bake again.

While that layer is baking, melt your chocolate and have it ready.

 (which I forgot to take pics of, sorry!)

Pour the chocolate layer over the coconut layer. Add your chopped or whole almonds, if desired.

Refrigerate, cut into bars and enjoy!

 Almond Joy Bars
recipe slightly adapted from The Recipe Garden

Ingredients
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
14 ounces shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups bittersweet/semi sweet/ or dark chocolate
Almonds, chopped or whole of your choice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil and coat with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until combined, then add the flour and salt. Carefully mix until it resembles chunky bread crumbs. Transfer into the prepared pan and evenly press the batter into an even layer.

Bake for 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while preparing the coconut topping.

In a large bowl, combined the condensed milk, vanilla and coconut. Spread over the crust and bake for 20 minutes until it begins to brown slightly.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler (or microwave if you prefer).[ I used a combination of dark and semisweet chocolate to create a "bittersweet", feel free to use whatever chocolate combination you have on hand but I recommend NOT using milk chocolate as it isn't rich enough.] Pour the melted chocolate over the coconut layer and spread into an even layer.

If desired, toast your almonds on a cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes. Then top chocolate layer, while still hot with whole or chopped almonds, I did some whole and some chopped to make it look more like an "Almond Joy."

Allow to cool then refrigerate until hardened at least 1.5 hours.

Cut into bars and serve.

Enjoy!
 

Muffin Pan Popovers

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I've always wondered about those funny looking breads called, "popovers" but I never really knew anything about them until I stumbled on a recipe one day and I was intrigued even further!

Popovers are light airy rolls with a crisp exterior and a pillowy inside, similar to a Yorkshire pudding.  They seem like a breakfast pastry to me since they have a egg-y taste and are great lathered with jam.

You can use a fancy popover pan, but the great thing about this recipe is these are made in just a regular muffin pan. They don't get quite as inflated as when using the popover pan but they were still pretty and tasted great!

The hardest part about this recipe is following the directions exactly and not opening the oven door to prevent them from falling.

  Patience is a virtue, wait to open the oven door, so you find these beauties! 

Tips #1: The batter is very liquid-ey, don't worry, that is normal!

Tip#2: Make sure your butter is bubbling slightly before adding the batter.

These are best eaten immediately and definitely while still warm, 

after that the texture/consistency just isn't as yummy!

Muffin Pan Popovers

recipe courtesy Chow.com

Makes 12 popovers

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature (whole is best, but 1% or 2% works, they just won't fluff up as much)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions 

read carefully!

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and arrange a rack in the lower third. Place a baking sheet in the oven while it heats.
2. Place 1/2 teaspoon of the butter into each well of a 12-well muffin pan; set aside.
3. Place the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and salt in a blender or in a medium bowl with an immersion blender and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. 
4. Turn off the blender, add the flour, replace the lid, and blend until just smooth, about 30 seconds. Set the mixture aside in the blender.
5. Place the prepared muffin pan in the oven on the heated baking sheet and bake until the butter sizzles, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the muffin pan and the baking sheet from the oven. Pouring from the blender or bowl, fill the wells of the muffin pan halfway up with batter.
6. Return the muffin pan and baking sheet to the oven. Bake until the popovers are puffed and the tops are starting to brown, about 20 minutes. (Do not open the oven door during the baking time.) Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake until the popovers are golden brown all over, about 15 minutes more. (Do not open the oven door until the popovers have baked at least 35 minutes.)
7. Remove the muffin pan and baking sheet from the oven and place them on a wire rack. Remove the popovers from the pan and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Insta-Yum

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I decided every month I will show you what I eat when I am not cooking

 (which if you haven't guessed already, is a lot lately!)

Here are some recent favorites!

If you want to find me on Instagram my username is theaprongal

 Baja tacos from Chuy's: one fish and one shrimp, the shrimp was my favorite! Make sure you drizzle their famous Creamy Jalapeno over it.

 Amy's ice cream: a local favorite in Austin, 

this is Dark Chocolate but Mexican Vanilla was also amazing!

 The Cajun platter at Razzoo's, a fun place for Cajun food!

 Thai Peanut Noodles and the famous Mac & Cheese at Noodles & Co that just arrived in Austin

 Amazing onion rings from Dan's Hamburgers, another famous Austin Hamburger joint. We went to the one in Buda, Texas (pronounced Buddha-hehe).

 My good looking date at Dan's. Just had to include him :)

Ok, I haven't tried this but it looked so awesome at Whole Foods.

 Cheesy bacony potatoes appetizer from Saltgrass Steakhouse.

 Their slogan is "Texas to the bone." Love it.

 Chicken pita from Tino's Greek Cafe. Yum! 

Reminds me of all the great kebabs we had in France and Turkey.

 Vietnamese noodles and roast chicken from a tiny Vietnamese restaurant near my work.

Fish tacos and beef tacos from TacoDeli. Good but not as good as Torchy's (I thought!)

Hope you enjoyed my little culinary adventure! 

Have you eaten at any good restaurants lately?