Praline Cookies

Hello!  Life has been full of lots of excitement and fun around here.  Jonathan and I recently went on a trip to Vail, where I experienced my first snow skiing.  Let me say...it's a tough thing to do!  We had a blast though.  These are a treat I whipped up one Sunday when I was hankering for something sweet, and they were delicious.  They're really nothing like a praline, but they are an easy, tasty pecan treat. 

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Melt butter in microwave for about 45 seconds, or until melted.  Add sugars, egg, flour, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add pecans and mix well.  Using a small scoop, drop dough 2" apart on a cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Cool 2 minutes and remove to cooling rack.  Serve dusted with powdered sugar.

Source:  Plain Chicken

Mini Lemon Blackberry Cheesecakes

With the remaining lemons I had from my grandpa's trees (see post below), I decided to make this recipe from SkinnyTaste.  It turned out delicious!  These are definitely something I'll be making often.

24 Reduced-fat vanilla wafers
8 oz. light cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
6 oz. fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt
2 large egg whites
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
24 blackberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line mini-muffin tin with mini-muffin liners and put one vanilla wafer in the bottom of each (randomly enough, some vanilla wafers in the box were too big to fit in the bottom, so I had to pick through to find the ones that would).  In a bowl, gently beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla until smooth.  Add in yogurt, egg whites, lemon juice, lemon zest, and flour and beat until smooth.  Pour into cupcake liners.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until centers are almost set.  Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until chilled (a few hours).  Top each with a blackberry and serve.