Here's another recipe I had fun doing for McCormick®. It's honestly been way tooo long since I have made a cheesecake. Who doesn't love cheesecake right? And don't you just love mini desserts?

I was honestly surprised how much I love the lemon flavor of McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract in these cheesecakes.

I not only used butter in sugar to sweeten the graham cracker crumbs for the cheesecake's crust, I added McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract.

After mixing the cream cheese mixture, fold in the blueberries and then use a cookie scoop to put the batter into the cupcake liners.

For your spring entertaining, I have some great tips for you. I'm all about easy entertaining and I have my friend Sandy to thank for it. Too many years, I overbooked myself, planned way too many dishes and overwhelmed myself. Make it easy on yourself and follow these easy entertaining tips:

• Plan your menu at least a week ahead of time.
• Choose a mix of easy and make-ahead time menu items.
• Put all of the ingredients you'll need for each dish into a grocery list, I love the Grocery IQ app (Curtis and I both have it on our phones and use the same account so our lists are always synced).
• Take stock of your staples: check out your McCormick® extracts and spices and use this time to throw out any expired items and restock. The last thing you want to do is have to run out to the store the day of your event.
• A day or two before your event, pull out the serving dishes and plates for each dish so you're not rushing around the day of.
• I usually use index cards or note on a list what menu item goes into which dish but I wanted to show you above how easily it can be laid out ahead of time.

• And my favorite entertaining tip of all, forget about always having to match your dinnerware, I love using different plates so the table is colorful
• If you don't have a lot of space, consider having a buffet for your event.
• Use splashes of colors in your plates or towels or napkins to make it bright and cheery for Spring.
• If a guest asks what they can bring something to contribute, assign them a non-essential menu item, drink or ask them to bring flowers for the table. Have a contingency plan in case they forget or bring something else

I love that these mini cheesecakes are so easy and quick to make. And the light lemon flavor and the blueberries go together very well. And these of course are going to be a part of our Spring entertaining this year!

Print

Lemon-Blueberry Mini Cheesecakes Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 8 regular sized graham crackers
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

Cheesecake Filling

• 2 packages 8 ounces each cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

• Heat oven to 325°F. Crush graham crackers in a plastic zippered bag and a rolling pin. Pour graham cracker crumbs into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add melted butter. Mix thoroughly, then add sugar vanilla extract and mix again.
• Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Using a small spoon, add about two scoops of the graham cracker crumb mixture into each cupcake liner. Using your fingers, smash the crumbs down and along the sides of the cupcake liners. Bake for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool and set aside.

Assembly

• Add cream cheese and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese & sugar until fluffy and light. Add eggs and vanilla and lemon extracts, beat until thoroughly combined. Add blueberries, using a rubber spatula, fold the blueberries into the batter.
• Using a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop, spoon cheesecake batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from cupcake tin and allow to cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove from cupcake liners before serving.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by McCormick® and I always share my honest opinions…and would only work with brands that I love.

The post Lemon-Blueberry Mini Cheesecakes appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I had this fun opportunity to work with Sierra Mist and share with you some great mocktails and cocktails. I was given the choice between a Frost Bite mocktail or a Meet Me at the Mist-letoe Mocktail and I chose the Frost Bite Mocktail! The Frost Bite Mocktail recipe is below. The Meet Me at the Mist-letoe Mocktail has Sierra Mist Natural, raspberry juice, fresh basil, fresh lime juice and blueberry juice.

Both my husband and I agree that we love the Frost Bite Mocktail. It's festive and smooth tasting. I like the convenience of making a mocktail or cocktail with Sierra Mist Natural. I love, love that it contains no artificial ingredients, they use real sugar and that any flavors are 100% natural.

Be sure to like Sierra Mist Natural on facebook for some great recipe ideas for your holiday brunches and parties!

So tell me after hearing about both mocktails, which one would you like to try? The Meet Me at the Mist-letoe or the Frost Bite?

Print

Frost Bite Mocktail Recipe

A nice refreshing drink perfect for brunch or a holiday party!

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 1 drink

Ingredients

• ice
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• 2 oz white grape juice
• fresh mint leaves
• fresh blueberries
• 3 oz Sierra Mist Natural

Instructions

• Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, lime juice and pineapple juice. Mix.
• Add white grape juice, mint and blueberries. Using the back of a spoon, crush a couple of the blueberries.
• Shake all ingredients well and strain into a large glass filled with ice.
• Top with Sierra Mist Natural and garnish a few fresh blueberries (optional).

Cook's Notes:

• To make it a cocktail (martini), substitute the lime juice for 1 oz of coconut vodka and the blueberries in the second step with 1 oz of blue curaocao.

Notes

from Sierra Mist Natural

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I only share brands I like, you know that!

The post Sierra Mist Natural Holiday Drinks – Frost Bite Mocktail appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I love having them as a dessert or even for a breakfast snack.

You can make these without using leftover pie dough but when using a full box of pie dough, use 1 1/2 cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen) with 2 Tbsp of sugar for your filling. Also, I found that if you aren't using re-rolled pie dough, I would roll out the fresh dough out a few times before using it to make your hand pies, otherwise the pies will be translucent.

On the left, is what the dough looks like after I cut out the chicken pot pie crusts. I cut out a 4-5 inch square. Fill them with the blueberry mixture. Be sure to prick holes on top before doing an egg wash and topping with sugar.

I love when the blueberries burst and leak out a little. Looks yummy. I don't think these need to look the least bit perfect. Sometimes I will put some egg on the dough before sealing, sometimes I don't. Competely up to you.

Serve them a few minutes out of the oven or the next morning for breakfast. They taste great either way. I store them in zippered plastic bags and they are good for a couple of days.

Print

(Quick) Blueberry Hand Pies

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 5 -10 pies

Ingredients

• Leftover pie dough or 1 pie crust package 2 pie crusts
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (or 1 1/2 cup blueberries if using 2 whole pie crusts)
• 1 Tbsp sugar or 2 Tbsp sugar, more sugar to top the pies
• 1 egg beaten

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with foil on it, be sure to spray the foil with baking spray.
• Mix blueberries together with sugar (look at measurement in the ingredient listing) in a small or medium sized bowl. Set aside.
• Whether the pie dough is leftover or packaged pie crust, mold the dough into a square shape and roll out to about 1/8 inch think.
• Cut into 4 or 5 inch squares. Add a little bit of the blueberry sugar mixture into the middle of the squares. Be careful not to overfill them!
• If you choose, add egg wash to the edges of two adjacent sides. Then, take one corner and fold over to meet the other corner, creating a triangle. Using the tines of a fork, push down on the edges to create a crease. Using the fork, prick holes on top of the hand pie, twice. Brush an egg wash over it and sprinkle sugar on top.
• Reroll leftover dough from cutting and/or 2nd pie crust until you have used up your dough and blueberries and repeat the above steps for each pie.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

The post Blueberry Hand Pies appeared first on The Little Kitchen.