Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies!!!! + Recipe

Well, I figured it was about that time of the day. TIME TO MAKE YOU HUNGRY!! Check out this hot-from-the-oven, bite sized deliciousness:

Want the recipe?? Here it is:

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies Recipe:


2 cups all-purpose flour                                         1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt                                                 1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder                                  3 ounces cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon baking soda                                     1 teaspoon vanilla
10 tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 2 tablsp)           12 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.


Combine dry ingredients (floor through soda) in a bowl and set aside. In mixer, blend butter, sugar, egg, cream cheese, and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing with each addition, until all are incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. 


Grease a cookie sheet. Drop dough by the spoonful onto sheet, at least 1 inch apart. 


Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown around edges. 


Note: Dough can be refrigerated until firm, then rolled into a log and frozen (in air-tight freezer bag) for up to 1 month. When ready to bake, let thaw 30 minutes to 1 hour (until soft enough to slice); slice in 3/4" wide disks and bake.

(I DID refrigerate the batter for 10 minutes or so because I didn't want flat cookies)
12 minutes later....

Oddly enough I didn't really taste the cream cheese in the cookies at all (Maybe if you want a stronger cream cheese flavor you can add more cream cheese)! I'm a cream cheeseaholic and I can spot cream cheese when it's in something! But, I COULD tell a difference in the moisture of the cookies compared to just a regular chocolate chip cookie. They were so much MORE moist! Even days later, I pop one of these babies in the microwave for 12 seconds and they are as good as they were when they first came out of the oven! I'll definitely make these again! Thanks for following!!

          ~Nat

Birthdays!!

Since I just started this blog and we've done SO much in the last few months I'd like to start recapping the last 5 months of our marred life. October started off with Spencer's 23rd birthday! How did we get this old?!? Didn't I JUST turn 12 and start Junior High?? Well apparently my diploma and wedding ring is telling me that  I JUST graduated college and got married a week later. Where has time gone?? Sometimes I need to remind myself to just BREATHE and enjoy living. I don't want to wish the weeks away just so it can be the weekend. Since Spence left for his 2 year mission in September of 2008 I've been really good at getting time to go by fast. I need to stop that. NOW. 


For Spence's birthday we opened his presents at midnight because then it was "officially" his birthday!! Here's Spence in his new pajama pants opening the rest of his presents:

He got a HP touchpad as part of his birthday a few days before his birthday:

3 lb bag of gummy bears. He picked them up at Target the day before and I knew he wanted them. When he wasn't looking I picked them up and carried them the rest of the time we were shopping. He didn't even notice I had them. I'm good at being sneaky. ; ) By the way, we are STILL eating these gummy bears 3 weeks later.

This is the magnetic touchpad case with a built in keyboard I bought him. So sweet!!

I also got him a nice dress shirt and tie because he was wanting something new for work since he has to wear a suit every day.

Then on his birthday (Thursday) we both didn't get home from work until 5:30-6p.m. I hurried home so I could start baking his cake, (which he chose) a candy bar cake. The recipe came straight out of his mom's cookbook. YUMMMMMYY!! (I've added the recipe at the bottom of the post.) Then we went out to dinner at Pappasitos. It pretty much ALWAYS sounds good to us, so it was an easy decision. We went so late that the restaurant was almost empty (except for the loud obnoxious guys at the bar watching a game). Our waiter still gathered up some employees to sing to Spence. AND of course, FREE dessert. 

Sorry if this makes you hungry!! ; )

Candy bar cake recipe:

1 box Duncan Hines Devils Food Cake Mix             1 c. oil
1 large box instant chocolate pudding                    1 c. sour cream
                                                                                1/2 c. warm water
                                                                                4 eggs


Mix all ingredients, stirring well. Pour batter into three greased 8" round or square pans. These will be thin layers. Bake @ 350 for 15-25 minutes, just until done. Set aside and cool completely. 


Icing/Filling


(8-oz.) cream cheese, softened                                 (12-oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2c. sugar
1-lb. chocolate candy bar with almonds
and toffee, chopped and separated


In a bowl, beat cream cheese and sugars until fluffy. Fold in whipped topping and candy bar (except 1/2 c. for garnishing). Divide filling into three parts and layer between cakes, like filling, do not ice sides of cake. Sprinkle top with remaining candy.




HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCE!!! One year older and WISER. : ) I love you!!!

                ~Nat

This is fun

So I've decided that having a blog is so much fun. I don't know what took me so long!!! Honestly, I think it's because I've been trying to think of a creative title for it and I've just had a MASSIVE brain block!!! I mean, I STILL haven't thought of anything I like! So if you have any ideas let me know, k? Thanks. : )


I've been dragging Spencer along to go shopping  for holiday decorations lately. Well, let me rephrase that. I've been dragging Spencer along to go shopping since we got back from our honeymoon in May! We basically haven't stopped shopping for kitchen appliances, furniture, home accents, and crafts since we got married. I'd have to say that he's a great sport! He NEVER complains, in fact sometimes I think he likes it even after a LONG 8 hour day at work! He's been working on his own manly projects lately. I have the PERFECT husband by the way.


Saturday I was out shopping (surprise) and I came home with some Halloween decorations including a real pumpkin I picked out at the grocery store. I've been working on the project since Saturday and finished it last night. It really didn't take that long but I had to make some time to actually sit down and do it. I like to focus on the CUTER parts about Halloween, not the gorey. So I've been working on "cutesy" Halloween projects. Our pumpkin project is the perfect example of "cutesy" :

P.S. I blame Pinterest for my craft obsession lately. Whose idea was that anyway?!?! FREAKING GENIUS! : )


Our cute little pumpkin before paint or glue:

Then I painted the stem black with black acrylic paint:

Then I cut and tied a cute bow to put on the stem of the pumpkin. Next I started to hot glue black buttons onto the pumpkin in the shape of a "B". For the "B" I just did it free hand. It took WAY to long doing it free hand because I'm a perfectionist and I kept taking the buttons off and trying to make it look more like a "B" instead of an "8".

I traced the "O"s from a printout off of my computer. It went 100 times faster! Here's the finished product!! Pretty dang cute!

It was totally an easy project after realizing how much faster it goes if you actually trace the letters onto the pumpkin first instead of trying to free hand it. I'll definitely do this again. I'm thinking about doing it on a fake pumpkin next time so I'll have it forever. : ) Thanks for following!!


                     ~Nat

Is it true??

Well, I'm FINALLY forcing myself, or should I say conforming to the rest of society and starting a blog. I'm excited to finally have a place to put all of our craft projects, new purchases, funny stories, and crazy adventures all in one place! It will be fun to look back in a couple of years to see all of the things we have been through and hopefully see our dreams and ambitions unfold. This marks a momentous day! I'm officially a blogger. Welcome to the life of the Sevys.