strawberry cheesecake sundae party!

 

 

If you’re looking for the perfect way to cool down on a hot summer day, then look no further. This special sundae made with vanilla ice cream, real whipped cream, CHEESECAKE and fresh strawberries will do the trick!

This creative combination was inspired by the fast food drive thru restaurant, Ralley's aka Checkers. We don't have Ralley's or Checkers in Utah but my mom told me about this amazing dessert & on a recent trip to Indiana I HAD to try it. It was everything she said & more! But I dare say, homemade is even better!

As soon as I got home I set out to recreate the strawberry cheesecake sundae. I googled it to get another look at it & low & behold I found a video of the restaurant's VP of research & development making one! That was EASY! Feel free to skip the rest of this post & click the video below to watch Mr. V.P. do his thing.



I must warn you about this Philadelphia Cheesecake Filling...it's DANGEROUS. Only buy it if you have a plan to use the whole thing, divided by 8 people, immediately . If it sits in the fridge unattended for more than a day it will do a magic trick & disappear from your fridge & reappear on your hips! I will probably never buy it again...it's that risky decadent! I also think it would be delicious piped into strawberries.

I made homemade strawberry sauce but this is a super quick & simple dessert! You could make it even easier with store bought strawberry syrup & just throw a few fresh strawberries in.

sundae ingredients:

Graham crackers, crushed in food processor

Philadelphia cheesecake filing

Strawberry Sauce, see below

Additional sliced strawberries 

Vanilla bean ice cream

Whipped cream

sundae directions:

Layer the following in each individual sundae dish:

 

1 tablespoon crushed graham crackers

1 ice cream scoop Philadelphia cheesecake filling (1/4 cup)

1 tablespoon of strawberry sauce
sliced strawberries

4 large swirls vanilla soft serve (or 3 scoops vanilla ice cream)

2 tablespoons strawberry sauce
sliced strawberries

1 tablespoon crushed graham cracker

2 puffs real whipped cream (more!)

Cherry (Strawberry!)

For Strawberry Sauce: Clean & slice 1 pound strawberries, place in a saucepan and stir in 1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in a blender until smooth. Will thicken upon cooling. Store in refrigerator and serve cold. This will make lots of extra sauce. Delicious served over cheesecake or ice cream or use it in smoothies or milkshakes or drizzle over pound cake or crepes!

mini no bake nutella cheesecakes party!

My Nutella obsessed teenager, Monica, has been creating up a storm in the kitchen! She recently made homemade Nutella ice cream (to die for) & now she has made these gorgeous No Bake Nutella Cheesecakes! If you haven’t tried Nutella it’s a chocolate hazelnut spread that is DELICIOUS served on pancakes, crepes, rice krispies treats, ice cream, fresh strawberries, or straight out of the jar on a spoon. 

This is a recipe she discovered & created & I happily devoured! It’s light & airy & thick & creamy & chocolatey! The no-bake makes it a PERFECT Summer treat. Another benefit is that it was twice as good the 2^nd day! Make-ahead AND no-bake…what are you waiting for?

Mini No Bake Nutella Cheesecakes

Recipe Source:  My Baking Addiction

ingredients:

12 Oreo Cookies (she used Kroger brand with chocolate cream)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened (feel free to use light)

2/3 cup Nutella

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 container (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed (feel free to use light Cool Whip OR whip up your own heavy cream, as shown HERE)

Optional for garnishing: additional Cool Whip, chopped hazelnuts, chocolate chips, additional crushed Oreos

directions:

1. For crust: crush cookies in a food processor or in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin. Stir together in a small bowl with the melted butter.

2. Divide crust into 4 individual serving glasses. You could also make this in a 9” pie pan.  Press crust lightly into the bottom of the dish(es). Set aside.

3. For filling: Beat softened cream cheese & nutella with an electric mixer until very smooth. Add vanilla & mix until combined. 

4. With a rubber spatula, fold the Cool Whip into the Nutella/cream cheese mixture until well blended. This takes awhile so just keep folding.

5. Pipe the filling from a piping bag or spoon it into the glasses on top of the crust.

6. Refrigerate until ready to serve or garnish as desired with optional garnishments. Monica piped extra Cool Whip on top & sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 P.S. My daughter used 4 10 oz. martini glasses & they were large desserts. You could easily use smaller serving dishes & make this into 6 servings. They stay perfect in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you use homemade whipped cream that is not stabilized (instead of Cool Whip), the cream will deflate & they should not be stored in the fridge more than 1 day.

She had some extra cheesecake filling that she piped between two mini 'nilla wafers & rolled the sides in chopped hazelnuts. Mmmmmmm!!! 

watermelon rice krispies treats party!

I feel very blessed to be part of the organization, Desserts for the Deserving. Desserts for the Deserving was established in 2011 with the sole purpose of bringing a little bit of sunshine to the lives of strangers. Bloggers, bakers & crafters offer their time and resources and are matched up with a family or individual who has been nominated for a random act of kindness.

The family I have been matched up with is Derrick & Ruth & their children. I know a batch of cookies will not ease the pain they are suffering from the very recent loss of their beautiful sweet baby. I have been praying for them since the day I received their nomination. I hope they know that people care about them & love them, even strangers.

Today I spent several hours thinking of Derrick & Ruth while I prepared cinnamon rolls, peanut butter-chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies (minus the m&ms) and these Rice Krispies treats! I packaged them up & shipped them off. I think these would brighten your day too! They are a snap to make & would be a fun no-bake treat for a Summer BBQ or kid's birthday party.

I saw these ADORABLE rice krispies treats from last year at Dine & Dish and couldn't wait to make them. Their recipe calls for strawberry flavored marshmallows and lime Kool-Aid but I just couldn't adulterate the scrumptious classic Rice Krispies Treats recipe. So I used food coloring to make my watermelon & rind.

Watermelon Shaped Rice Krispy Treats

ingredients

6 Tablespoons butter, divided in 2
6 cups mini marshmallows, divided in 2
8 cups Rice Krispies, divided in 2
Green & red food coloring
chocolate chips or raisins for "seeds"

1. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 3 cups mini marshmallows & stir until melted. Remove from heat & stir in some green food coloring until its the color you want. I just poured a bit from the bottle. I didn't measure but it was probably about 1/2 teaspoon. Stir in 4 cups Rice Krispies until completely coated.

2. Scoop green Krispies mixture into a well buttered 9 inch round cake pan. Butter your hands or a spoon and press it around the outer edge of the cake pan to form a ring. Set aside. Wash your large saucepan so you can reuse it for the red.

3. Repeat step 1 except add red food coloring. At this point my teenager came in the kitchen & said, "Why in the world are you making a Christmas wreath in July?" I said, "You'll see."

4. Scoop red Krispies mixture into the center of the cake pan. Press to be level with the green outer ring.

5. After mixture completely cools place a few raisins or chocolate chips on top as seeds. Turn pan upside down to remove from pan. Slice into wedges & serve or put them on lollipop sticks & package for gifts! I cut mine into 8 large wedges but you could definitely cut it smaller. I promise no one will mistake them for Christmas wreaths!