these little cheesecakes are so easy and a total hit especially if you are running short on time and need a quick treat for all those holiday parties & potlucks
Mix Together:
16 oz (2 packages) of Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup Sugar
3 Eggs
1 Tbsp Vanilla
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Mix together until smooth.
Use your mini cupcake pan and grab some 2" baking cups. (if you don't have a mini cup cake pan- you can use just a normal baking sheet with aluminum baking cups instead(like these), they may lose just a little shape, but will still look great)
Put Mini Nilla Wafers flat side down in the bottom of the cups. Easiest cheesecake crust ever right?! Then fill each cup about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
Play some Jenga while you wait for these little guys to cool down, well at least that is what c. & i do.
When they are cooled all the way (i put them in the fridge to speed this process up) spoon on some pie filling of your choice (we used both raspberry & cherry) and refrigerate. This recipe will make roughly 4 dozen. How simple is that?
Recipe from the always inspiring Bakerella
we were going for a camo effect so we did 6 thinner layers of batter instead of the 3 thick layers (like in the halloween tie-dye cupcakes)fresh out of the oven the tops look like this! they didn't even need frosting
now cut it open a look inside! i love how they all turn out so different just depending on how the layers come together. how amazing are those greens? 
we used chocolate frosting to look like dirt. then decorated with little army men and camo stars. here are all of the different stages together.
close ups. i think these little guys look ready for battle.
we may have run out of chocolate frosting towards the end- so we improvise. we made some tasty green frosting for the rest- it kind of looked like grass at the front of the battle line. this is one of the best things about baking and decorating, there is freedom to just let your creativity roll. 
i decided to go a much more simple route this time- i did both the cute cupcake and the little angry baby face. i drew my own pattern for the cupcake pumpkin and i was more than pleased with the way it turned out. 
there was also "Witches Tea" at Gardner Village with all of the female cousins on the rogers side. it is always such a good time to get together with all the girls, get manis & pedis, and just laugh. 
then the big day finally arrived! HALLOWEEN! the one day a year that you can be anyone you want to be and no one looks at you funny for painting yourself blue or wearing a tutu!
i went as a troll doll this year. yes that is a giant rhinestone on my belly button. i was pretty happy with the way it turned out. my sissy deni made this awesome tutu and let me borrow it.
my parents had their annual halloween extravaganza at their house. this is all of the girls before the party started. me the troll doll. deni was "Hell on Wheels" she looked so super hot in her little devil outfit! my mom was a wench that was being turned into a vampire by my dad, they looked very fierce! and my youngest sister sami was Minnie mouse! she made her own costume and looked so adorable!
my dad was a classic vampire (think interview with a vampire era) - as mentioned before my mom is his wench that he is turning her. such an awesome couple costume.
my sissy and i cinching my mom into her costume. i thought she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen-but hey its better to look good than to feel good. :) 
this is how ruby gets excited about the spookiest holiday of the year...she wears her glow in the dark pumpkin shirt. she looks adorable! 
they turned out alright considering i was having some major issues with the frosting melting down the walls, but other then that i was happy with it.
maybe next year we will do better :)
c. takes pumpkin carving and easter egg dying very seriously. i love that about him.
Madison carving her master "peace" ha ha that was a funny joke you will get it soon......
get it now? master "peace" this is madison's peace sign made of bones. 
madison and me. i love her.
all of the beautiful pumpkins together. pretty awesome if you ask me.
Punk-Ula done by C. - his was the coolest out of all of them it has shadows and shading and all this other fancy pants stuff. he did an awesome job like always! 
a spooky combination of yellow, purple, orange and green matched the adorable Halloween cupcake cups.
add some neon green frosting, black sprinkles and a spider! and TU-DUH!! spooky cupcakes. 
we saw bugs, princesses, villains, and everything in between.
on sunday we spent the day riding awesome roller coasters at six flags.
these little treats are very simple! start with some pre-made pie crust. use a rolling pin to roll out the crust.
place sucker sticks and push them gently into the bottom pie crust. Start adding the goods, you can use any pie filling you are cravin, be careful not to over do it on the filling cause it will leak out all over. the stars only held one cherry and some juice.
put the tops on and crimp the edges using a fork. i brushed a little egg white on top and around the seam to help hold them together better.
follow the baking instructions on the pie crust box.
as mentioned the stars were a bit dry, so in an attempt to liven them up i whipped up a simple almond glaze. it consists of about a cup of powdered sugar, a splash or two of milk, and a few teaspoons of almond extract. sorry i don't have exact measurements for this i just make it to taste.
let them cool for a few minutes, then drizzle on the glaze.
delicious!!serve warm with some vanilla ice cream.
for the apple pie bites i used a more open shape, and they worked much better!
repeat all the same steps.... add the filling. crimp the sides. brush with egg white. bake.
the only thing different for the apple is right when they are finished baking brush the tops with a dab of butter and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mix. 
