Butterfly Cheesecake Muffins

Dear sister just had a birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! She wanted to bring something to share at work since she had to be there on her birthday. I said I would make mini cheesecakes for her to bring. We have been making cheesecake muffins for years. You can make so many variations. I have shared a few on the blog already. These I wanted to make special so I set out to make them "springy". Sister loves butterflies so I wanted to use this cute pretzel idea I saw all over Pinterest. But I needed to find a way to make a green topping or field for them to sit on. That is when it came to me I could tint the sour cream topping from the Ultimate Cheesecake recipe. It worked perfectly. It also makes a great flat top on each muffin. This little technique is going to make for tons of other cute cheesecake muffins. Sister said the sour cream topping balances the other sweet ingredients. These little cuties are sweet because hidden inside is an Oreo and a Snickers bar. So with the pretzel and the candy inside and out this little muffin is salty and sweet. They are cute and tasty too! Perfect for any birthday or Easter event. I hope you will find a way to celebrate spring with this recipe.

Butterfly Cheesecake Muffins

Makes 24 to 28 muffins

Ingredients

1 pkg. Oreo thins

1 bag mini Snickers bars

3 (8oz.) pkg. Cream Cheese

3 eggs

1-1/4 cup Granulated Sugar, divided

1-1/8 tsp. Vanilla, divided

16 oz. light sour cream

16 drops green food coloring

1 bag Flipz white fudge covered pretzels

1 bag Easter M&Ms

1 bag peel and eat Fruit Punch Twizzlers, peeled

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Place 1 Oreo thin in paper lined cupcake pan. Place a Snickers on each cookie and set aside. Cream the cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add 1 tsp. vanilla and beat until well mixed. Spoon cream cheese over each cookie until cup is 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile mix sour cream, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/8 tsp. vanilla and green food coloring adding drop by drop until desired green color is achieve and sugar is dissolved.

Remove muffins from oven and top with green sour cream mixture. Bake for 5 more minutes, remove from oven and let cool completely. Top each muffin with two pretzels spread just far enough apart for a row of M&Ms in between. Place one color of M&M to make the head of the butterfly. Place three of a different color below for the body. Poke two pieces of Twizzler string near the head for antennas. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Note: Be sure to let the muffins cool completely before decorating. Heat and moisture will affect the candy. Heat will make the coating melt. Moisture will make the candies caulk. For perfect muffins you may want to decorate just before serving.

Linking to:
Dizzy Busy & Hungry: Wine'd Down Wednesday

Cherry Garcia Yogurt Pie

This year in a quest to make Easter dinner a little healthier we opted for a Yogurt Pie for dessert instead of the Coconut Baba I made last year. I still wanted to do something special or different. But I could not get the families' cherry version of the pie out of my head. Of course cherries are not in season, so I could not find them in the produce department. It was Mom that suggested using frozen cherries. Then it occurred to me, what about adding chocolate to the cherry yogurt pie? Do you like Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt? I DO! So I went to search the baking and candy aisles for chocolate covered cherries to add to the mix. I found a bag made by Dove. It turned out really good! Everyone enjoyed it. Dear sister liked it a lot but suggested we try using one cherry and one vanilla yogurt next time. Then she recanted saying she did not want to lose any of the cherry flavor. I think I might add a little pure vanilla next time just to see if it adds anything. I am on the fence about whether or not to chop up the chocolate covered cherries next time. They freeze a little on the hard side, so if you encounter one when you are cutting the pie it is difficult to get through. I think with a few tweaks this pie might just keep me out of the ice cream case in the future.

Cherry Garcia Yogurt Pie
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 cartons of light cherry Greek yogurt
1 cup frozen cherries, thawed
6 oz. bag chocolate covered cherries
8 oz. light whipped topping, thawed
1 prepared Oreo cookie pie crust

Directions

Place yogurt in a mixing bowl, fold cherries and chocolate covered cherries (reserve 7 for garnish) into yogurt. Add an equal amount of whipped topping (about 1-1/2 cups or half of the carton) gently fold whipped topping into yogurt and fruit mixture. Pour into pie crust and spread evenly. Place pie in the freezer and freeze solid. When frozen, spread the top with the remaining whipped topping, and garnish with reserved chocolate covered cherries.

Note: I usually remove the pie from the freezer when we sit down to dinner. That way it is thawed just a bit when it is time to serve dessert.

Want more ice cream inspired treats?

Check out this Banana Split Yogurt Pie

Linking to:

Yesterfood: Treasure Box Tuesday

Kneaded Creations: Tuesdays With a Twist
Dizzy Busy & Hungry: Wine'd Down Wednesday
Love Bake Good Cakes: The Ultimate List of Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt and Milkshakes

Happy Easter!

The Potato Salad is made already. There is also a new version of Yogurt Pie in the freezer, but I will post that later. I am going over to Mom and Dad's to make the Baked Ham and Green Vegetable Medley. I just want to wish you and yours a very Happy Easter! I hope you enjoy a day of fun, food and family. 

God Bless!

Easter, Dad's Birthday and Coconut Baba

WARNING! Long, wordy and lots of photos.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter! We had something big to celebrate in our family. Dad's birthday fell on Easter this year. I immediately knew what I wanted to do for him. I would make him a Coconut Baba. My Maw Maw (Dad's Mom) would always make Coconut Baba. I never saw her make it. It was just something she would take from the frig in a covered 9x13 baking pan and unveil at the table after one of her iconic meals. I have never had anything similar any where else. It is a moist yellow cake topped with a creamy coconut layer, then a coconut custard and finished with meringue. We don't have her recipe but Mom would make her own version every now and then. It is definitely a labor of love. Lots of steps involved. Dad said he remembers being the one to crack open the coconuts for Maw Maw. I remember him drilling, beating the coconut with a hammer and even smashing a few coconuts against the garage floor for Mom. See Maw Maw used fresh coconut and simmered it with sugar and the liquid from the coconut. Mom has done this a few times too. But lately we have used store bought sweetened coconut with great success. Warming a bag of sweetened coconut with a can of coconut milk makes a sweet creamy coconut layer. Dad was thrilled with the outcome. He said it tasted like what he remembers. I still wish I had Maw Maw's exact recipe but I am happy I could make our version for Dad's special Easter birthday.

The only problem I had was I needed a deeper cake pan. I found myself dangerously filling the pan to the tippy top. Mom said she thinks Maw Maw used a Jiffy cake mix. I could not find one the day I went to the store. So, I did not use all the custard and meringue for fear it was going to spill over. Jiffy is a smaller cake mix, I think that would help or maybe I just need a bigger pan? Believe me you want to use every bit of these wonderful ingredients.

Now for the Easter garnish. This is totally optional, Maw Maw never garnished her Coconut Baba and it was still delicious. I just got inspired by all the Pinterest desserts featuring little eggs in a nest. I think dear sister's friend "J" would totally approve of using toasted coconut for my nesting material. Mom sure did. She kept asking, "Now how did you do this? What is in the topping?" It is so funny how marvelous toasted coconut is. Coconut is normally quite chewy and not real sweet on it's own. But sweetened and toasted it is like candy! Sweet, light, crispy and still a little chewy. It made a sweet little nest for a few Cadbury eggs. I think this is going to become an Easter tradition.

Coconut Baba

Serves 12 to 16

Ingredients

Cake:

1 box yellow cake mix, prepared as directed

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

Coconut layer:

14 oz bag sweetened coconut

1 can coconut milk (or cream of coconut)

                                                                                                            

Custard layer:

3 cups 2% milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

Dash of salt

5 egg yolks

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp coconut extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

Meringue:

5 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp hot water

Easter Garnish:

Toasted coconut

Cadbury candy coated milk chocolate eggs

Directions

Prepare cake as directed on box in a rectangle 9x13 pan. Meanwhile, combine shredded coconut and coconut milk in a sauce pan, heat until creamy. When cake is done, remove from oven and prick surface of the cake with a fork. Spread coconut mixture over warm cake.

Prepare custard by combining milk, sugar, flour, and salt. Cook until it begins to thicken. Whisk egg yolks together, temper with a little of milk mixture. Add yolk mixture to milk mixture continue cooking until thick and creamy. Add butter and extract. Pour on top of coconut.

Beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Continue beating adding sugar, corn starch, extract and hot water. Beat until stiff peaks form. Swirl over custard and bake at 325 degrees until meringue is browned evenly about 20 minutes. Remove from oven allow to cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Easter Garnish:
Toast 3/4 cup of sweetened coconut in a dry non-stick pan over medium low heat. Stir often until golden brown. Remove from heat, continue to stir until cool. Store in an air tight container until ready to garnish. To garnish place a spoon full on top of each piece of cake forming a nest. Place two or three Cadbury eggs in the center of the coconut nest.

Linking to:

Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Monday

Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo

My Pinterventures: The Yuck Stops Here!

Yesterfood: Treasure Box Tuesday

It's Your Life: Tuesday with a Twist

Anyonita Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays

Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin' Wednesday

Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday

Turnips 2 Tangerines: Four Seasons Blog Hop

Diamonds in the Rough: Share Your Stuff Tuesdays

My Turn for Us: Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends

Hungry Harps: Get Him Fed Fridays

Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Coconut

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter full of faith, family, food and fun. Our usual family tradition is Seafood Gumbo on Good Friday. Ham, Potato Salad and Green Vegetable Medley for Easter dinner. But we have made two Seafood Gumbos already this year, so we are skipping that tradition. This Easter we are having another brunch. My dear sister has to work again. So Easter morning is our best chance to celebrate together as a family. We will have our ham, a frittata, hashbrowns and fruit for brunch. Then we will make a non-traditional potato salad and the Green Vegetable Medley for the evening meal. I will be sure to share recipes and photos real soon.

Easter Menu

Brunch
Baked Ham
Asparagus and Gouda Frittata
Shredded Hashbrowns
Cucumber Melon Salad

Sister's Work Potluck
Baked Beef Dip

Dinner
Leftover Baked Ham
Two Potato Salad with Sour Cream
Green Vegetable Medley

Dessert
Easter Eggs
Grasshopper Pie


Linking to:
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Easter Foods