Ingredients
3 cans crescent rolls
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F. 

2. Unroll 1 1/2 cans crescent rolls on bottom of 9 by 12-inch baking dish. 

3. Beat together cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla in electric mixing bowl.  Spread mixture over crescent rolls. 

4. Unroll remaining crescent rolls and place over cream cheese mixture.  Brush butter over top then mix together cinnamon and remaining sugar.  Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over melted butter. 

5. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until top is nicely browned and dough is fully cooked.  Cool before serving.  Eat warmed or chilled, depending on your preference.

No photo

Comments
This recipe is from Live Love Pasta and it combines two things I like quite a bit – cheesecake and sopapillas!  I made this as a late night snack one night and we all enjoyed it.  Art and I enjoyed the leftovers nuked about 15 seconds in the microwave, but Lance preferred the leftovers chilled.  I’m not sure that I’ll make these again, but they were certainly tasty this time.

Ingredients
For the cake
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut, flaked or shredded (optional)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
1 7 ounce jar marshmallow fluff

For the frosting
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons milk
6 cups powdered sugar

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F. Grease 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

2. Beat eggs until thick. Beat in sugar until combined.

3. Combine butter, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, coconut and pecans in medium bowl. Add flour mixture to sugar-egg mixture. Stir well. Pour into pan and bake 30 minutes, or until done toothpick inserted comes out clean.

4. Remove cake from oven and spread marshmallow fluff gently over warm cake. (The warmth from the cake will help to melt the fluff.)

5. Mix all frosting ingredients. Spread frosting over fluff using a table knife to swirl frosting into marshmallow. Cool before serving. 



Comments
This recipe is from my most excellent mother.  I assume that she initially got it from a magazine or newspaper, since her recipe card is a glued clipping.  This recipe has been in my life for as long as I can remember and it was always a grand treat for birthdays when we’d get Mississippi Mud.  The best part of the cake is when you get a piece 3 to 4 days after it has been made because the frosting crystallizes a bit and it’s stellar.  Not that the cake often lasts so long, but it’s great when it does! 

I think that, in the future, I might make a few changes because no one in the family has quite the sweet teeth that we did 20+ years ago.  In the future I’d double the cake part of the recipe and keep the frosting the way it is.  Or bake it in a 9 by 9 and halve the frosting while keeping the cake the same.  As the recipe stands, the frosting layer is about as thick as the cake layer, and it would be nice to have a 1:2 ratio. 

This specific cake was made for my mother’s birthday.  I’m sure she was happy that there were 6 other people to help her eat it all!  (We only had one votive candle, which is why there's a round dent in the middle of the cake.)

Ingredients
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups cake flour

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 325*F.  Butter loaf pan and line bottom with parchment paper or foil. 

2. Mix butter and sugar on medium speed with mixer until very light, about 5 minutes.  Beat in vanilla.  One at a time, beat in three eggs, beating until smooth after each addition. 

3. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in 1/3 flour until fully absorbed.  Beat in another egg until smooth, followed by another 1/3 flour.  Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula.  Repeat with remaining egg and remaining flour.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. 

5. Bake for 75 to 90 minutes, or until cake is done with cracked top, golden brown color, and a toothpick inserted into center emerges dry. 

6. Cool cake in pan five minutes, then remove from pan and cool on rack. 

No photo

Comments
This recipe is from Epicurious.  Sadly I didn’t get a picture because this was part of my mom’s birthday celebration and it completely slipped my mind.  We ate it with berries and whipped cream, even my picky nephew had a piece!  It was a teeny bit dry, but I sort of forgot to press start on my timer after setting it so I might have cooked it too long.  I won’t know for sure if the dryness is a function of the recipe until I make it again and actually remember to turn the timer on.

Ingredients
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate chips or bars
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line bottom of 8 by 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. 

2. Place butter and chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each increment, until melted and smooth.  Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to mixing bowl. 

3. On low speed, mix in sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Beat the eggs into the batter one at a time until fully blended.  Add flour and cocoa powder and beat until batter is just smooth. 

4. Pour batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean, about 35 to 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely on cooling rack.  Remove brownies from pan, cut into squares, and serve. 



Comments
This recipe is from the blog Use Real Butter and I made them for Thanksgiving 2010. These are probably the richest brownies I’ve ever eaten, so I recommend serving them with vanilla ice cream.   If you like rich, fudgy brownies, this is the recipe for you.