I don't know if you heard, but, Shelly and Kristan are having an awesome creative recipe contest this week. I love how I'm referring to them like they're my friends from down the block, when in reality, I've never met or spoken to them in my entire life. Well, I do fangirl on their blogs alot and I've watched this video a gazillion times, but I don't think that qualifies us as BFFs?
Anyways, the two of them are teaming up and challenging bloggers and non-bloggers alike to get creative with one of their recipes. Can you say FUN!? I mean, for bloggers, this is first nature for us. We're basically always adapting recipes. But it's not everyday that we get to win a KitchenAid stand mixer for doing so. Oh yeah, there's prizes involved. First place gets a beautiful KitchenAid stand mixer, second place a KitchenAid blender, and third place a KitchenAid hand mixer. In other words, it took me 0.5 seconds to get to looking through their archives. I'm aiming for gold people, or in this case, crystal blue!
So, let's get to the important stuff, like my submission. I decided to take Shelly's strawberries and cream bars and transform them into peaches and cream bars. And no, I didn't use peaches instead of strawberries. It's a lot more complicated than that....okay it's not that complicated, but I did make a few extra changes!
For one, I used a yellow cake mix instead of white. I felt like it would work better with the flavor and I even tried out two different brands to give you guys the best results (Duncan Hines ftw!). Second, I layered the peaches before pouring on the cheesecake filling because I wanted the peaches to bake IN the "cream". And lastly, for my crumble topping, I used melted butter and threw in some cinnamon, because really, what are peaches without cinnamon?
The results were phenomenal. Everything from the soft cake mix crust to the creamy cheesecake studded with juicy peaches to the crispy crumble topping was on point. And all the flavors meshed so well together.
Isn't it awesome when you have this idea in your head and it just works out perfectly? I just hope these babies are good enough to bring home the crystal blue for mama...wish me luck y'all!
*I am entering these Peaches and Cream Bars in the Creative Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups!Peaches and Cream Bars
Yield: 24 bars
Ingredients:
One box yellow cake mix (16.5 oz)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
One 29 oz. can sliced peaches in light syrup
For the cheesecake filling:
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
For the crumble topping:
1 cup reserved cake mix
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
Reserve 1 cup of cake mix and set aside.
In a bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together remaining cake mix, butter, and egg until combined. You may need to use your hands to competely mix everything in as the dough will be fairly stiff. Press the dough evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
Drain the peaches and slice them lengthwise. Set aside.
In another bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth and well-blended. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Distribute peach slices evenly on top of the partially baked crust. Pour cheesecake filling over the peaches, using an offset spatula or back of a spoon to evenly spread it out.
In a small bowl, mix together reserved cake mix and cinnamon until cinnamon is is well-incorporated. Add melted butter and mix together until crumbly. Sprinkle over cheesecake filling.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheesecake is set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then chill for 30 minutes in fridge before cutting and serving. Store in refrigerator.
Adapted from Cookies & Cups
No comments
Post a Comment