Brie-Stuffed Puff Pastries

A delightful, but hard to photograph appetizer I made for our anniversary dinner.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 pound Brie, but into 24 chunks


Directions:
1. Heat oven to 450ºF. Generously grease 24 small muffin cups, 1 3/4x1 inch. In medium bowl, beat eggs slightly with fork or wire whisk. Beat in flour, milk, sugar and salt just until smooth (do not overbeat). Fill cups about two-thirds full. Bake 5 minutes.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF. Bake about 10 minutes longer or until crusty and golden brown. Cut a small slit in top of each popover. Insert cheese chunk in each popover. Bake 5 minutes. Immediately remove from pans. Serve hot.

(**Note: I only had a regular-sized muffin tin, so I just divided the batter and Brie into 12 portions. They look a little different than the picture included with the original recipe, but I'm sure they tasted just as marvelous.) 

Turtle Cheesecake

 Got this recipe from my good friend Betty, made a couple changes, and made it for my two-year anniversary dinner.

Ingredients:
1 store-bought graham cracker crust
2 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
caramel topping
chopped pecans, optional

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Pour half of the mixture into pie plate.

2. Add cocoa powder to remaining cream cheese mixture in bowl; beat on low speed until smooth. Spoon over vanilla mixture in pie plate. Swirl mixtures slightly with tip of knife. (I actually forgot to swirl, but it doesn't really affect the taste, so it's okay.)

3. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until center is set. (Do not insert knife into cheesecake because the hole may cause cheesecake to crack as it cools.) Cool at room temperature 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 2 hours until chilled. Serve with caramel topping (and pecans). Store covered in refrigerator.