Tiramisu Cheesecake Bars

Yum-o! These Cheesecake Bars are so yummy, be careful....they are addicting too! I found the recipe in an old Costco cookbook. I made a few tweaks for taste and altitude baking. Hope you enjoy! (I am taking the rest of these to school tomorrow to share with the SPED team...otherwise I may not fit into my work clothes by mid-week!)

Tiramisu Cheesecake Bars

Base:

1 pkg Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

3 Tbls flour (use 2 Tbls if you are cooking below 5,000 ft.)

1/3 cup margarine or butter

1 egg, slightly beaten

Filling:

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 Starbucks Via packet

2 tsp Vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Topping:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

To prepare the base, combine ingredients and stir until a soft dough forms. Press into the bottom of the pan. Bake 15-18 minutes until a light golden brown. Let cool.

To prepare filling, in a clean bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk; beat until blended. Beat in coffee, vanilla and eggs. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour over cooled cookie base. Bake 35-40 minutes or until set. Allow to cool 30 minutes on counter and another 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

To prepare topping, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in whipping cream; beat 2 minutes longer, or until fluffy. Spread over cooled bars. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Makes about 36 bars.

Java Wed. Winner!

And the winner of some coffee love is...........

Paula!


Congrats Miss Paula! E-mail me your snail mail addy and I will get these goodies off to you.

Bethnw72@hotmail.com

~Beth

Happy Day - FIF Challenge

I am enjoying playing along with Flaunt it Fridays because I am using cuts I either didn't know I had or would not typically choose. This week it is the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cart. I don't have this cartridge but did find a bag on the Plantin Schoolbook cart.

I cut the bag out at 6.5 inches. I wanted room to wrap a gift card in tissue paper and still have it fit nicely in the bag. For the front of the bag I used  some super cute Cosmo Cricket paper scraps I had in the scrap box. Added some flowers, bling and ribbon and "wha-la"!

I think my Internship Supervisor will love finding this little treat on her desk this week.

~Beth

Weekly Blend

Welcome to the Weekly Blend.....a top five list of my favorite finds of the week! The blend is robust, a little quirky, and oh so tasty!

#1.

This adorable PNC from Under A Cherry Tree! I don't currently have PNC capabilities but girls if I did, this card would be first on my list!

#2. 

Ohhh, yum! My favorite Girl Scout Cookie mixed with my favorite salty snack! Add a cup of strong, hot, black coffee and I would be in Heaven!! You can find this recipe and lots of other yummy treats at Cookies and Cups.

#3. 

These cute magnets from Paper Passion Cards. She has a ton of cute styles. I am thinking of snagging the RN ones for a couple of my girls who are finishing nursing school. These are one of those projects I tell myself I could learn to do....but know I won't so why not support Etsy businesses? :)

#4. 

These super cute charms from the Rusted Chain. What more needs to be said?

#5. 

Rosemary cuts in a blue Ball jar. Perfection. Cherry Hill Cottage has been a blog favorite of mine for years. Have fun looking around there!

P.S. - Don't forget to post on Java House Wednesday for your chance to win some coffee love!

Golden Sunshine

While most of my friends are digging out from snowstorms, I have been spending the past week soaking up golden rays of sunshine here at the foot of the mountains. They say we will be getting our share of cold weather again soon though. In honor of the spring-like weather I dug through my photos and found this sweet one from Easter '09. Just a super simple LO today. The photo had so much going on in it (color/patterns), that I didn't want to overwhelm the LO with busy-ness. I used the Storybook Cricut cartridge for the tulip and scallop oval. Sometimes keeping it simple tells the story perfectly. Cheers!

Java House Wednesday

         This is a new feature at Scrappy Java Girl blog. Remember in January when I said I had all sorts of new ideas for the blog this year? Yah, I am finally taking the time to sit down and implement some of them! I have wanted to write a weekly blog entry in a “coffeehouse” style for weeks now. Coffeehouse; a warm, inviting place for us to meet over a hot steaming cup of Java…or cocoa, tea, apple cider…I may be a coffee snob but I don’t discriminate. J

         Coffeehouses date back to 1475 to a coffee shop called Kiva Han in Turkey. As the Turks conquered and/or moved about the landscape, so did coffee. Britain opened their first coffeehouse in 1652. Italy, Germany, and France soon followed suit. When America was colonized, the coffeehouse was quickly established here also. Not only were the coffeehouses just a gathering spot to drink coffee; they also served as places for vital communication.

(image credit: Serendipity Team )

         Why the history lesson, you ask? I just love the idea that all over the world, for hundreds of years, people have been meeting for coffee! Having spent many years in the Seattle/Tacoma area, I can truly appreciate the culture of the coffeehouse. They are a part of the fabric of life there. My favorite one when my kids were young was a mom and pop joint that had a play area and big comfy chairs. Urban Coffee I think it was called. I could meet a girlfriend to catch up on life while the kids played or read books. Someone else did the dishes when we were done too! As the kids get older, the coffeehouse has become a place for me to study, meet for book club, pray with a friend or just relax while waiting for soccer/dance/activities to be finished.

         Coffeehouse culture is a diverse and interesting slice of American life. Let’s experiment a little here and see if we can’t develop a little “Bloggy Java Culture” of our own! To start off, share a description of your favorite coffeehouse in a post below. On Sunday I will randomly choose a participant to receive some coffee love via snail mail! (Make sure to leave an e-mail for me to contact you.)

~ Beth

Twinkle Toes on Tuesday

     I just had a fantastic weekend visiting with old friends, celebrating Luke's 14th birthday and hanging out with my cousin. It is amazing how much I managed to squeeze into the three days! I also cleaned my scrap space and did some organizing. Is it just me, or does everyone else have a difficult time keeping their scrappy crafty stuff neat and tidy? I make such a mess when I am creating!

     I found a fun new weekly challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut and thought I'd play along this week.  The challenge was to use embossing. Since the Cuttlebug is still on my list of toys to get, I went "old school" and used embossing powder and a heat gun!

I used the Twinkle Toes Cricut cartridge for the sassy "ballerina".

Ice Festival

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!

Spent yesterday at the 4th Annual Cripple Creek Ice Festival with the family. The drive to Cripple Creek was gorgeous and the ice sculptures were amazing. It felt great to get out of the Springs and away from carpools, laundry, dishes, etc.

Apple of My Eye

I love it when my friends find great ideas online and then share with me! Thank you Jackie for the tip on these great fruit Valentine stickers! I downloaded, selected the apple ones, printed what I needed on sticker paper and ta-da!

These are goody bags for my Speech students at school. There is a lollipop, but I figured they'd be getting plenty of candy at class parties that day! 

Fortunate in Love

I had fun making about 20 of these little fortune "cookies"! Hannah took one to school in a Chinese take out box full of Skittles. Inside the fortune "cookie" was a slip of paper asking her friend K. to go to Sadie Hawkins with her. Too cute! Can't wait to hear what he said.

I made smaller versions of the Chinese take out idea for some special valentines. The boxes are filled with Hershey's Kisses and topped with a "cookie". The messages inside are about friendship. I then closed the box up and slipped some fancy chopsticks through the top. Finished with a cute ribbon.

Fortune "Cookie" recipe: 
3.5 inch diameter circles cut from thin foam sheets with fancy edge scissors. Fold into a taco shape. Push the center of half circle in so ends come together. Hot glue the sides and pinch with a clothespin. Cut strips of paper with sayings and slip into the "cookies". 

Oh What a Blogger!

Kim, over at It's a Crafty Life really caught my eye this week. She took another blogger idea and made it her own, something I always say I will try to do but don't usually get around to. Go see post on Eye Charts...perfect for the gorgeous girls in your life! (Here's a peek...please download from her site if you want your own.)

I am heading to church to hang out with some fabulous 5th and 6th graders now. Cheers!

FIF - S.W.A.K.

Flaunt It Friday time again! I didn't think I'd play this week because I don't have the Indie Art cart they were using...but, my fabulous Potpourri Basket cart has the LIPS! (I love that the company I bought my Cricut from added this cartridge to the bundle.) I also used the envelope from the same cartridge. The letters are made with the Base Camp cart. 

How do you Flaunt It?

Love U

A little Cricut fun today. As you may have noticed, my Valentine's theme this year is "keep it simple". 

Here's hoping you have a sweet Monday!

Catching Up!

      Whew, where has the time gone? I was so certain I was going to be able to add all of my new ideas to the blog in January and be updating at least 2 to 3 times a week. Somehow time has gotten away from me though and it is now February 6th! (Go Steelers!)
       We have had a lot of snow and cold, cold weather lately. Yesterday I put on my fuzzy slippers, poured myself a cup of Snickernut coffee (Thank you Christine!) and started working on Valentine's Day projects. Here is what I accomplished.....ATC sized cards. I plan on using them as is or adding to a regular sized card for mailing.

I started with this great pattern paper I found at Michael's last week. It was perfect for the many cards I wanted to make. I just used my straight edge cutter and cut the different images into individual rectangles. I also cut 2.5 by 3.5 pieces of pink Bazzill for the base of the background.

Next, I added ribbon, buttons and/or bling to the individual images and then built the little mini cards. They turned out so cute and I was able to use surplus embellishments I had laying around. 

(click on image to see larger)

These are just a few of the ones I made yesterday. I plan to finish up the rest while I am waiting for the Super Bowl to start. (The photo in the background is of my dear friend Shelly and her beautiful daughters.)

Happy Love Week!