Romesco Sauce

Back in August of last year our cat Leopold had a scary incident where he couldn’t walk. After a visit with the neurologist and a MRI we decided that he was having a feline vestibular episode. While we were monitoring him for the week while he was visiting with the doctor and recovering, we were under a sort of house arrest and made a few recipes, including 45-second strawberry frozen yogurt. We also made a big pot of this romesco sauce to get us through lunches and dinners.

This sauce is very simple to make, yet has a depth of flavor that tops jarred sauce. We used it as pasta sauce, topped chicken with it, and even spread it on sandwiches.

Mini Blueberry Cheesecakes with Trefoils™ Cookie Crust

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The baking with Girl Scout Cookies® saga continues! Trefoils™ are sometimes seen as the plain, boring cookies that you always have extra boxes of after a booth sale. My sister had an extra box of Trefoils™ from last year and gave them to me on the condition that I bake something with them. Also, did you know that February 8th is National Girl Scout Cookie Day?

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I was a little burned out on chocolate, as crazy as that may sound, so I wanted to make something for my office for Valentine’s Day that was decadent, but lighter. I made my Mini Blackberry Cheesecakes recipe and replaced the blackberries with blueberries. I also replaced the vanilla wafer cookies with the buttery, fragrant Trefoils™ and added some almonds in too (omitting the almond extract in the original).

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It was easy to convince my office-mates to try these treats. The fruit on top makes it “healthy”; they’re bite-sized; they have Girl Scout Cookies® in them, which makes them “limited edition”. The crust on these are delicious and it goes well with the tanginess of the cheesecake and the tart berries.

Feel free to sub your favorite fruit on top or replace the cookies with what you have on hand. I had some extra filling and crust and swirled in some chocolate chips and crunchy cookie butter for a rich Valentine’s treat.

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