FHE

Last night was the first of, hopefully many, "Family Home Evenings" with some newly made friends here in AZ.  We were each assigned something different, and our assignment was dessert and a spiritual thought.  For the thought, I went straight to the Ensign (church magazine) and picked an article.  You can find it here .  For dessert, I went straight to pinterest (where else?), and found TWO recipes that I wanted to try...oreo cake truffles and apple caramel cheesecake bars.  They were both a hit, which made me really happy!  I'm always wanting to try new dessert recipes, but I never have enough people to eat the dessert, so this was a perfect opportunity.  The cheesecake took about 40 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook, but the cake truffles were SUPER easy, and probably took a total of 10 minutes for prep time.  Try them if you need a good recipe!

No Bake Oreo Truffles (from "chef-n-training.com")

Ingredients

• 1 package Double Stuffed Oreos
• 4 oz Cream Cheese you may add up to 8 oz, I just like the consistency best with 4 oz.
• Dipping Chocolate (about 12 ounces)

Instructions

1. Chop Oreos up finely in a food processor. Save some of the finely crushed Oreos for garnish later and set it aside. You don't need too much.
2. With hands (or a spoon, I just think hands are faster), mash softened cream cheese and crushed Oreos until well combined.
3. Roll into 1" balls and place on a wax covered cookie sheet. Put in freezer for 15 minutes.
4. While balls are in freezer, melt chocolate according to directions.
5. Pull the Oreo Truffles out of freezer, and dip into chocolate. Garnish with reserved Oreo crumbs before the chocolate sets up.
6. Let chocolate set, refrigerate and enjoy!

 Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars (from "the-girl-who-ate-everything.com")

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cheesecake Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel Topping:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup caramel topping

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.

For the streusel topping: 
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. I like to really combine it by using my clean hands to thoroughly combine the butter into the mixture.

Sprinkle Streusel topping over apples. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!