Pumpkin Cheesecake Mini Tarts

Ingredients

12	Gingersnap cookies
1 (8 oz.	) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup	Solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup	Sugar
1 teaspoon	Pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon	Vanilla
2	Eggs

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place 12 muffin cup liners in a muffin tin. Place a gingersnap cookie in the bottom of each liner. Beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla until well blended. Add the eggs and beat well. Divide bater equally among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Remove from the pan and chill before serving (whip cream optional... actually not really - USE IT, but I will say its an option).

Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce

Last night I had the opportunity to eat a pre-Thanksgiving feast with my ward. Now I don't really get excited about traditional Thanksgiving fare, but I do derive a slight amount of satisfaction from a plate full of rolls, potatoes, and stuffing. But one thing I can't stomach is canned cranberry. SICK! It's slimy and in the shape of a can--a can!; it's not quite jelly and it contains inordinate amounts of high fructose corn syrup. The worst part of all is that you can cut it into slices. The only things worse than it are the canned yams. Anyway, I was inspired to find a recipe for a more natural cranberry sauce. A simple Google search brought up the following recipe. I'm just going to put in the link because there was too much good information to cut and paste. So good luck and may you never eat canned cranberry again.

http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/cranberry-sauce.html

Sour Cream Banana Bread

The sour cream and brown sugar make this bread chewy and delicious; the nutmeg/cinnamon combo adds the perfect amount of spice. Feel free to add walnuts or chocolate chips :)



Ingredients
5 Tbsp. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (about 3-4; the blacker the better!)
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a 9X5 loaf pan, making sure to cover each corner with the butter then flour, so the bread comes out easily after baking.
   
2. Cream butter and sugars together with mixer on about a medium speed. Let mixer run for a minute or two to whip the mixture.
3. While that mixture whips together, combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
   
4. Lower speed of butter mixture and add egg, egg whites, and vanilla. Mix to incorporate.
5. Add dry mixture and sour cream to butter mixture, alternating a small amount of each at a time, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Blend for a minute to whip and incorporate.
6. Slowly add mashed bananas to the mix and blend quickly to incorporate.
7. Evenly pour mixture into pre-greased loaf pan. Bake for approximately 1hr 10 mins. at 350 degrees.