Oatmeal M&M Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

The hubby got home from work early and wanted to do something fun together, so we baked cookies! He looked in the cupboard of baking supplies and chose the m&ms and peanut butter chips and so I modified an oatmeal cookie recipe from my Company's Coming cook book. They turned out great! The recipe yields 5 dozen, and we ended up with 4 1/2 dozen, which means that I only ate the equivalent of 6 cookies in dough, or I made them a bit bigger... Let's go with the second option :)

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup m&ms
1 cup peanut butter chips

Mix butter and brown sugar together. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients and mix. Add the m&ms and peanut butter chips and mix. Form into small 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes and let cool on a cookie rack. Makes approximately 5 dozen cookies.

Candy Cane Brownie Cheesecake

I was on for dessert with my family for Christmas dinner, so I wanted to make something festive, delicious, and less work than pies! I saw a few recipes for candy cane cheesecake on Pinterest, but they either didn't have a link or required crushed cookies, sour cream or heavy cream, which I didn't have. So I combined a few recipes to make this one my own!

The cheesecake part isn't very thick, so if you wanted to make it a bit bigger you could change the portions to 3 packages cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and 3 eggs. It is quite sweet and rich, so you really only need a small piece.

Ingredients

Crust:
-1 package brownie mix

-1 egg

-2 tbsp water

Filling:

-2 packages (8oz/250g each) cream cheese

-½ cup white sugar

-1 tsp peppermint extract

-2 eggs

-1 cup crushed candy canes

-Chocolate sauce or whipped cream to top

Mix together brownie mix, egg, and water. Spread into a greased 9” springform pan and bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in the sugar and peppermint extract and beat. Add the eggs one at a time and beat. Stir in ½ cup of the candy cane pieces. Pour over the brownie crust and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F. Top with chocolate sauce or whipped cream, and candy cane pieces. Enjoy!

Oreo Chocolate Marble Cheesecake

Here's another yummy cheesecake recipe! I made the crust from one recipe, and the filling from another. I added extra Oreos from the crust on top just to make it extra delicious. The filling recipe I found online wasn't very good. It didn't mention that you need to add the cream cheese or the sugar. I figured out the cream cheese part but almost didn't catch the missing sugar! That would have been gross! So my lesson here is, always be careful with recipes you find online!

Oreo Chocolate Marble Cheesecake

• 24 Oreo cookies
• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 3 pkg (750 ml) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sour cream
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ tsp vanilla

For the crust, place 16 of the Oreo cookies in a large ziploc bag, and roll with a rolling pin to crush finely. Mix with the melted butter and press into the bottom of a springform pan.

Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and 2 tsp vanilla until well blended. Beat in the flour, and then beat in the eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix 1/4 cup each of cocoa powder and sugar together. Add in the oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and about half of the cheesecake mixture.

Alternate spooning in the plain and chocolate cheesecake mixtures on top of your crust, ending with dollops of chocolate on top. Use a knife to gently run through the cheesecake, creating the marbled effect. Add some of the extra crushed Oreos on top.

Bake at 450 ºC for 10 minutes. Without opening the oven door, lower the temperature to 250 ºC and bake for 30 minutes, and then turn off the oven and leave it for another 30 minutes. Loosen the sides with a knife and cool.