Fun Holiday Recipes- Peanut Butter Cheesecake and Graham Cracker Houses!

With the holidays approaching, and lots of gatherings to attend, I find it necessary to come up with new and exciting Holiday Recipes to add to the holiday table.  Why?  I have no idea.  Maybe it is just a bit of sibling rivalry.  You see, both my sister and my sister-in-law are amazing cooks.  Me?  Well, I can do well when I want to.  I just can’t seem to make myself hang out in the kitchen too long.  So my solution is to come up with fancy dessert and table topping ideas.  Kind of crafty, if you know what I mean.

So this year I put together two new recipes, Peanut Butter Cheesecake and Graham Cracker Houses!

First of all, if you love cheesecake and you love peanut butter, then you are totally going to love this Peanut Butter Cheesecake!  It takes no time to put together (which is something that I love) and bakes in the oven for about an hour.  The result is total amazing-ness. Even the awesome cooks in my family will have to admit to the fabulousness of this cheesecake.  Want to know how to make it?

For this recipe I used:

1 packet Honey Maid Graham Crackers
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
4 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup creamy Skippy Peanut Butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs, lightly beaten

First let’s start with the crust.  The Peanut Butter Cheesecake is an “upside-down” version, so the crust will be on top!  Take a package of the graham crackers, put them in a gallon zip lock bag, and beat them with a wooden spoon.  Soon all of your aggressions will be gone!  You want a nice batch of graham cracker dust.

Add the melted butter.  (Takes about a minute in the microwave to melt it).  Mix it together well with the graham cracker crumbs.

Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a 10″ round baking dish.

For the filling, mix the softened cream cheese with the sugar.

Add in the peanut butter, vanilla and eggs.  Mix well.

Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish and spread with a knife for an even top. Then put the whole thing in the oven set at 350 degrees for one hour.  It will be done when the center feels set.

While we are waiting for it to bake, let’s grab the rest of those graham crackers and make little “gingerbread houses” to decorate the holiday table!

For the houses, I used:

Honey Maid Graham Crackers
Skippy Peanut Butter
Prepared cookie Icing (comes in it’s own decorating bag)
Assorted tiny candies

I wanted these houses to be mini-houses, so I cut the graham crackers into smaller pieces.  As you can see from the photo above, there was lots of trial and error.  In fact, by the time I was done, I was totally stuffed with graham crackers!

Well, they certainly couldn’t go to waste, could they?

Anyway, for each house, you would cut four pieces as shown above.  I used a serrated knife and usually a sawing motion gave the best results.

Used a section of graham cracker for the base and then assemble the house using the cookie icing.

The cookie icing is great for “gluing together” the main pieces of the house.  For extra flavor, (because these will certainly be eaten), add some Skippy peanut butter inside the house.  It is great for dipping the crackers into!

Once all the houses have been assembled, it is time to decorate!

Use the cookie icing, the candies and the peanut butter to decorate them any way that you want!

These will look really cute as place settings at the table!

Ooops.  The cheesecake is done!  Pull it out of the oven and let it sit for about an hour until it cools.

Then place a pretty plate on top of the pan and flip it over.  The cake should come out cleanly.  I then used my leftover cookie icing to make a pretty snowflake design on top.

The cake is amazing.  That is all I can say.  Even the hubby was impressed.  And he knows how my cooking can sometimes be.

Make something new and fun for the holidays!

Are you new to the Sitcom?  Be sure to check out my Frequently Asked Questions Page!

For over 200 crafty tutorials for all ages, visit my Tutorial Page!