Banoffee Parfait

In an effort to come up with something new and fun (and awesome, because I'm competitive like that) for a fundraising bake sale, I've created a Banoffee Parfait.  It requires very little of you other than the ability to assemble ingredients. 

What you need...
2 cups of crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
6-8 Tbsp melted butter or margarine (start off with 6, add until desired consistency is achieved)
(In a bowl, combine graham crackers, sugar, salt and melted butter.)

2 pkgs. instant vanilla pudding, prepared as directed in a separate bowl

About 6 ripened bananas, peeled and cut into 1/2 slices
1 bag of milk chocolate covered toffee bits (found near the chocolate chips in the baking aisle)
1 jar of caramel topping

Now assemble!
Drop a spoon or two full of graham cracker crust into a parfait cup.  Top with vanilla pudding.  Add bananas, toffee bits and caramel topping to your liking.

Enjoy!

Fudgy Cheesecake

I love making cheesecake, but it seems to take forever, so I've created a simpler recipe that delivers a nice, rich chocolate cheesecake taste, but doesn't require all that waiting.

Fudgy Cheesecake

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
8 oz dark choclate squares, melted
1 chocolate graham cracker crust

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a mixer, cream the sugar and cream cheese until light and fluffy. 
• Add egg and vanilla and blend.
• Spoon about 1/3 of the mixture into the chocolate graham cracker crust and spread evenly on the bottom.
• Melt the milk choclate chips in the microwave (15-30 second intervals).  Mix in 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture and stir until blended.  Spoon evenly onto your plain cheesecake layer.  If it mixes, no worries!  A little marbling can make it look fun!
• Finally, melt the dark choclate in the microwave and mix the remaining cream cheese mixture, stirring until blended.  Spoon onto your cheesecake as the top layer.
• Place the cheesecake onto a flat cookie sheet and cook for 25 minutes, or until the top layer is set.
• Let cool for about 30 minutes and then place in the refrigerator to chill. 

This is much simpler than a traditional cheesecake and your oven time is cut in half.  It's still very yummy, however, so enjoy!