this is good crowd pleaser for a party.  Who doesn't love good soft pretzels with gooey cheesy dip?  The first time we made these the pretzels were a bit under done, so I recommend baking the pretzels a little before adding the cheese to the skillet.

Ingredients:

For the Pretzels:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3/4 cup warm water (105 degrees F to 115 degrees F)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbs honey
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups hot water
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• Pretzel or kosher salt

For the Cheese Dip:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup wheat beer or lager
• 8 - 10 ounces mild cheddar cheese, shredded
• 8 - 10 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion flake
• 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions:

For the Pretzels:

• In a small bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in 3/4 cup warm water. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl combine both flours and 1 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add honey, oil, and yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until dough starts to come together. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes.
• Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil. Transfer dough to prepared bowl. Turn dough to coat. Cover and let stand until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl combine 2 cups hot water and baking soda. Divide dough into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and dip into the baking soda-water mixture. Arrange dough balls around edge of a buttered 12-inch cast iron skillet, leaving the center open. Score the top of each dough ball with an "x". Sprinkle balls with pretzel salt.

For the Cheese Dip:

• In a medium bowl beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed 30 seconds or until smooth.
• Beat in beer until combined. Stir in cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, garlic powder, onion flake and salt. 

Final preperation:

• Bake the pretzel balls in cast iron skillet for 10 minutes at 400. 
• After 10 minutes add the cheese mixture to the skillet and continue to bak an additional 10 - 12 minutes until nicely brownes and the cheese is melted.
• Server immediately

Notes:

• if you don't have or don't want to use the cast iron skillet you could bake the pretzels separate from the cheese and serve it as pretzels with dip instead of the pull apart skillet. 

• Bake 20 minutes or until pretzels are browned and cheese is melted. Serve immediately

We have tried a lot of differnet cheesecake recipes over the years.  Recently a friend requested cheesecake for his birthday, so I decided to try something new.  This recipe turned out great!  Nice and creamy and a big hit with everyone.  This can be made crustless, but I decided to add a thin bottom crust made from crushed vanilla Oreos.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the crust (Optional):

• 1/2 pack of vanilla Oreos crushed (food processor works best for this)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

• 4 packages (8 oz) cream cheese room temperature
• 5 large eggs room temperature
• 2 cups sour cream room temperature
• 8 tbsp butter room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 vanilla beans can substitute 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

For the crust:

• Crush the Oreos (I use a food processor), add melted butter, stir to combine
• Spread mixture evenly in bottom of preparred spring form pan and press with the bottom of a flat drinking glass or just your hands

For the cheesecake:

• Tightly wrap 2 layers of aluminum foil around the outside of a 10 inch springform pan covering bottom and sides.  Generously coat inside of pan with butter.
• Preheat oven to 300º F.
• Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time until blended.
• Add sour cream and mix until smooth.  Add sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and lemon juice, beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
• Pour into springform pan and place in a roasting pan large enough to prevent sides from touching.
• Place into oven and carefully pour boiling water into roasting pan to reach halfway up sides of springform pan. (be careful not to splash any water onto cake)
• Bake for 2 hours, or until cake is lightly browned on top. My oven is a convection oven, so bake time in regular oven may be longer.
• Remove from water bath, remove foil and cool completely at room temperature before unlatching and removing rim.
• Cover and refrigerate until well chilled (best to leave chill overnight). Cake must be well chilled to set properly.
• Serve plain or with berries and whipped cream or even caramel sauce

Creamy peanut butter pie... sometimes you just have to have something to satisfy your sweet tooth.  This recipe does just that.  With the chocolate cookie crust, the creamy tangy peanut butter filling and even the chocholate ganace topping.  There is something comforting about this pie.  I LOVE IT!  Hopefully you will too.

Ingredients:

For the crust: 

• 1 1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (about half a pack of Oreos, crushed)
• 3 Tbs melted butter
• 2 Tbs sugar

For the pie filling:

•  1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

For the ganache:

• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbs heavy cream

Instructions:

• Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar and butter.  Press into a 9-inch pie plate. Bake in 375 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.  (baking is optional)
• In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, melted butter and vanilla until smooth.
• Whip the cream to stiff peaks and fold into the peanut butter mixture.  Spoon filling into the prepared crust. and refrigerate while preparing the ganache.
• Make your ganache: Using 2 cup, microwave safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips and cream together on high10 seconds at a time, stirring each time until chips are completely melted and chocolate is smooth. Let cool for a minute or two.  Drizzle ganache over the pie.  Refrigerate pie at lease a few hours until ready to serve.

We made these for the first time for Christmas 2017.  They are great little refreshing lemon cookies.  They stay soft and chewy which I love and they are a great addition to a holiday cookie tray, or to make any time of year.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 Tbs grated lemon zest
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 6 Tbs freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 4 Tbs honey
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp lemon extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions:

• Combine the lemon zest and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your hands, rub the zest into the sugar for a minute or so until the mixture is very fragrant.  Add the butter. Using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and lemon sugar, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
• Add the lemon juice, honey, vanilla extract, and lemon extract and beat until combined. The mixture may look curdled because of the lemon juice.
• Add the flour, baking soda, and sea salt, and beat until the dough comes together and begins to form a ball. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Form the dough into balls about an inch and a half in diameter and place them two inches apart on a cool, parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the bottoms are light golden brown.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then carefully transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Once the cookies have cooled, toss them in powdered sugar and serve.