Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Cheesecake

Years ago when I used to be a librarian, I went through a cheesecake phase.  Meaning I made a large variety of cheesecakes, especially ethnic ones.  While this recipe doesn't fit that bill, it does fill the cheesecake void.  I love that this isn't the classic chocolate or regular cheesecake.  I don't see a lot of butterscotch recipes either.  The same plain cheesecake recipe surfaces but I prefer having the flavor already in my slice.  Not that I have a problem with cherry cheesecake, but that it's messier than I'd like.  The fruit flavors are best done simply so they don't always give off a great impression outside of their season.  This is perfect for winter when finding fresh fruits in season is a little more difficult. 

This recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens Baking cookbook.  It turned out pretty darn well, but was a bit sweet for me.   I changed the nuts to almonds.  I'd also recommend changing the 1/2 cups of sugar to 1/3 cups and reducing the amount of butter in the crust to 1/3 cup also.  When baking the crust, butter leaked out all over the baking sheet.  This doesn't typically happen when I make a cheesecake and reducing the butter will fix this issue.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Cheesecake

3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
3 eggs
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup almonds
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter,  melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
1/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cups butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  For the crust, in a food processor combine oats, almonds, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and cinnamon.  Pulse, pour in melted butter and pulse.  Remove 1/4 cup of the mixture and set aside.  Press remaining into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and 1 inch up the sides.

Beat cream cheese, granulated sugar, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, flour, vanilla and orange peel with a mixer until combined.  Beat in milk until smooth.  Beat in eggs, stir in 1 cup butterscotch pieces.  Pour filling into the pan, spreading evenly.  Sprinkle with reserved oat mixture and 1/4 cup butterscotch pieces around the edge.  Place springform pan on baking sheet.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a 2 1/2-inch area around the outside edge appears set.

Cool on a wire rack completely and then chill several hours in the fridge before serving.

Wholesome Wednesday: It's a donut, its a scone, no its an Oatmeal Sconut!

After looking at countless cookbooks, I look at 40-50 new cookbooks a month, I have found some of the best ones to be bridal cookbooks.  If you think about it a bridal cookbook really has just about everything a newly married couple might need recipe-wise.  They typically cover everything including how to entertain.  I've always found the recipes to turn out perfectly.  

I absolutely love fresh from the oven scones.  So I was really intrigued to find this recipe for a sconut, which is a cross between a donut and a scone.  I'd never heard of a sconut before but they sounded great.  We've already made donut muffins, which rocked BTW and these sounded perfect for a frigid morning.

This recipe comes from the Good Housekeeping 2013 Bridal Edition Cookbook.  They only thing I've changed is to use organic shortening for half the butter.  I found mine at Dominick's marked down, but dated out a year, and I've been dying to use it.  This might have made my sconuts flakier than usual.  Just an FYI.

We possibly might be making more sconuts in the future with other yummy things in them.  They were just that darn good.  :)

Oatmeal Sconuts

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups flour

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated

1/2 stick unsalted organic butter, cold

1/2 stick organic shortening, cold

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a food processor combine oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  Pulse to blend.  Add butter and shortening (cubed); pulse until a coarse crumb forms.

In a measuring cup, beat egg; add buttermilk and beat again.  With the food processor running, add egg mixture to dry ingredients and pulse until dough comes together.  It will form a large ball.

Scoop dough with an ice cream scoop onto a lined baking sheet.  Flatten each mound into a round and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Bake 10-14 minutes, until golden on the bottoms.  Makes 18 scones.

These are best when eaten warm from the oven.  You can always give them ten seconds in the microwave, but it's not quite the same.  Freshly baked and they didn't need anything like butter.  Some people may not like the dry quality of the scone in their donut, but we certainly do.  One of those foods that magically disappears.

Whole Wheat Honey Oat Rolls

Honey, whole wheat and oats are some of my favorite things.  Separately they taste great, but mix them together in a roll and they are amazing!

I've been tinkering with this recipe, wanting to increase the whole wheat flour and oatmeal while still ending up with a tender, yummy roll.  I really think you're going to like these.  :)

I'm sorry there's only one photo, they turned out to be more popular than I thought.  That always means the recipe is a winner!

As always I used my bread machine to mix the dough.  This makes my life so much less stressful and more likely to bake bread.  If you don't have one, I highly suggest either getting one or asking for one on your local chapter of freecycle.  I've had mine about a year now and could not imagine making dough without it.

Whole Wheat Honey Oat Rolls

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal
2 packages dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup honey
5 tablespoons butter, divided
1 egg

Add the ingredients to your bread machine in this order: milk, egg, 4 tablespoons butter, salt, flours, oatmeal, honey and yeast.  Set your machine to the dough setting and let it run.  (This is why I absolutely love my bread machine!  I only ever use it mix dough, but it comes out perfect every single time!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.  When your bread machine is done with the bread cycle, turn out onto a floured surface.  Knead briefly to work the air bubbles out of the dough.  Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball, easiest way to do this is to pull all the edges underneath to make the pieces round.  Place in pan and set in a warm place to rise, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.  Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and brush over rolls.

Healthy Nutty-Ella Baked Oatmeal Recipe

Y'all already know how much we love baked oatmeal at my house.  It's absolutely amazing.  You can make extra and easily heat it up in the microwave and its just as amazing as if it just came fresh from the oven.  I have an extra special treat in this recipe.  Capella Flavor Drops!

What are Capella Flavor Drops you ask?  They're a great way to add amazing flavor to anything you make.  I'm going to be bringing you quite a few recipes featuring these powerhouse drops.  You literally only add a drop at a time to flavor whatever you're doing.  They are honestly that concentrated.  If you're at all like me, flavor is important to you, but you also want to watch what you're eating.  These drops are a great way to do this as they have no fat, no carbs, no gluten, no calories and no sugar.  That means they won't actually alter anything but flavor in your recipes.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I got the opportunity to use these drops was to make a healthy nutella-like baked oatmeal.  Nutella is a big fave at my house (some people have been known to hide it away so they don't have to share).  While I love nutella and hazelnuts are good for you, I don't love all the fat that comes with it.  I thought using these drops would be a great way to bring that taste to a baked oatmeal.  I've also added some butter flavored drops as there isn't really any fat in this recipe and they give it the illusion of being a rich treat.

This recipe makes 2 servings.  I typically bake mine in one cup ramekins.  I split the recipe between 4 of them because then you don't have to have an entire serving if you'd like to diversify you're breakfast.  You could easily half this recipe to make just one serving or bake it in a bigger dish.  Another note, you can use whatever liquid you like in this recipe.  I've used coconut milk, almond milk, milk and coffee creamer with great results each time.

Healthy Nutty-Ella Baked Oatmeal

1 cup oats (I use old fashioned)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk, water, liquid
dash of salt
1-2 tablespoons of sugar or coconut sugar
2 drops Butter Capella Flavor Drops
2 drops Double Chocolate Capella Flavor Drops
2 drops Hazelnut Capella Flavor Drops

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Pour into greased baking dish or ramekins.  Bake for 20 minutes or until firm.  Broil on high for 3-4 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Susie Savors:  I'm still not telling you where my Nutella stash is.  But, this is a good substitute.  Not exactly the same melt in your mouth textures, but for being oatmeal it's a pass. Plus with the drops we can control the flavors so there is no overload of one flavor over another.

*This is a sponsored post.  All opinions and content are my own.*

Wholesome Wednesday: Coconut Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

We love cookies at my house.  But we love them more when they're unusual.  I can easily see these becoming a favorite.  Not that they beat whole wheat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip, but they're just such a different taste.  They're kinda like a macaroon without the chocolate on the bottom.

They're crisp, golden brown and still chewy.  I'm pretty sure that's all the coconut making them moist.  If you really need a chocolate fix, you could add half a cup of chocolate chips.  While working on these, I almost threw in some chopped up caramels.  However, I thought they'd end up too sweet.  I love the oatmeal in them too.  Let's face it I love just about everything with oatmeal in it.  :)

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup butter or shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup oats
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.  Cream butter/shortening with sugars until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and beat well.  Add flour, oats, coconut and mix thoroughly.  Scoop with a tablespoon sized cookie scoop onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe makes about 30 cookies if you use tablespoon sized cookie scoop.

Susie Savors: Crisp and tangy these are a great treat.  They're healthy as far as regular cookies go, they do have oats with fiber and they help to control blood sugar.  With the added benefits from coconut, these are a guilt free pick me up.  The sweet is paired with the nutty coconut and complemented by the texture of the oats.  A mouthful of intrigue that will keep you sneaking just one more.  You won't be the only one.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

I really love baked oatmeal.  Pretty much any kind or flavor.  So much so that I thought this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal would be fantastic.  :)

I love the way these turned out.  Baking for just 20 minutes gives you a custardy like oatmeal that is firm but not dry.  And the melty chocolate chips are just amazing.  :)

I normally make a recipe for 2 people but this recipe is easy to cut in half.  You'll need some ramekins.  I use 1/2 cup ones.  So if you do it that way you'll need 4.  The other great thing about this recipe is you can make it in advance and put it in the fridge for the next morning.  About a minute in the microwave and its just as great as if it were straight out of the oven.  I haven't tried to freeze them yet but I bet that would work too.  

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

1 c oats (either quick or regular)
1/2 t vanilla
1 T sugar (I've been using Madhava Coconut sugar)
1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 c Mocha coffee mate (you could also use milk if you wanted less chocolate flavor)
1 T creamy peanut butter
1 T salted butter, melted (if you use unsalted, add a dash of salt)
handful of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease all ramekins either with oil or cooking spray.  Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, then mix in the wet.  Spoon into ramekins.  Bake for 20 minutes.  (If you like your oatmeal really firm you can add a few more minutes).  Broil on high 3-5 minutes till it gets a nice crust.

Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

All I have to say is YUM!!