White Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

So, I can't wait to make these. It was featured on the talk show Good Things Utah for winning the state fair I think. If you click on the link below it will take you to the website where I got this recipe and it also has a video of the preparation if you'd like to see that.

abc4.com

Prepared by viewer Heather Merrill

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup shortening
• ¼ cup butter or margarine softened
• ¼ cup white chocolate chips melted
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips

• 8 oz package cream cheese softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 Tbsp milk

• 1 can cherry pie filling

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In large mixing bowl cream together sugars, shortening, margarine, vanilla and eggs. Add in slightly cooled melted white chocolate. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in white chocolate chips.

Cream together softened cream cheese , powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk until blended.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Make an indention with your finger or spoon in top of dough. Drop a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into each indention. Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Let cool. Spoon on cherry pie filling. Store in refrigerator.

Makes about 3 dozen

Hawaiian Chicken (POrk would be yummy too!)

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (could substitute with other garlic sources)

1-2 tsp fresh oregano

1-2 tsp fresh rosemary

1-2 tsp fresh basil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black or lemon pepper

Chicken Breast

Combine all ingredients minus the chicken. Thinly slice chicken breast horizontally then cut again into strips. Place in a bag with marinade for at least 15 minutes, but the longer the better. I used about 1.5 lbs of chicken, but there was enough marinade you could probably even use as much as 4 pounds for this recipe.

Grill at a low heat setting allowing a nice color, but not over cooking your thin chicken slices.

Variation: Wine vinegar may be substituted for the lemon juice (I actually added both though!). If fresh herbs are not available, substitute 1/2-3/4 tsp dried.

Serve with Rice or other grilled meats and veggies. Enjoy!

Fresh Pears, Mmmmmmm...

I haven't posted any recipes for awhile, life has been a little hectic, but I have tried a few new things lately that I had to share. We got some fresh pears from the Church's pear farm in Medford and a couple of things I have made are here:

Pear Cranberry Salad

1 pear peeled and diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 head lettuce chopped (add other greens it would be delish!)
1 grilled chicken breast (I have used chicken cooked with a variety of marinades in this salad and they have all proven to be great!)
1/2 cup chow mein noodles
Poppy Seed dressing

Pretty much mix it all up! The dressing amount is to your taste. I prefer this salad with less dressing as you already have a lot of sweet flavor with the pears and the cranberries, and flavor from the chicken as well. I could eat this every day and it probably would be even better with a little gargonzola or other crumble cheese!


Slow Cooked Pear Cobbler

3-4 Medium Pears peeled and sliced

1 cup all-porpose flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1. Spray inside of 2 to 3 1/2 quart slow cooker wtih cooking spray.

2. Mix pears with 3/4 cup of sugar and add to the cooker.

3. Beat the remaining ingredients with spoon until smooth. Spread batter over the pear sugar mixture

4. Cover and cook on high heat setting 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

(If you want to bake in the oven, add 1 egg to the mixutre and add pears over the batter instead under. Cook at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until nicely browned and pears are tender.)

Serve with Ice Cream or Whipped Cream.