Cheesecake & Raspberry Jam Cookies

Hello Blogger World! I am back hopefully for a while. I got lucky today and my office closed at noon. So now I'm home relaxing and realizing that I haven't posted in so long. 

So I recently made these Cheesecake & Raspberry Jam Cookies

So I followed the recipe as best as I can. I had to modify a few things especially since it was getting late. 

Getting all my ingredients together.

Mixing it together. The dough forms pretty quickly.

I tried to roll out the dough and cut out circles but because I was working with a room temperature dough, they fell apart. Be sure to chill the dough before working with it. 

Try to cut circles. Need to cut them bigger.

I had to form dough balls and press them on top of the cupcake tin and form cookie shells.

Very golden brown!

They were delicious in my opinion. My friends don't really like the jam but my co-workers liked it. I'm going to make some without the jam and possibly give them out this holiday season.

Enjoy!

Original Recipe Source

Cheesecake Cookies (Modified by Me)

Yield: 24 mini cookies

Ingredients

Cookie dough:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg

pinch of salt

Filling:

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tbs lemon juice or half a lemon

1 tsp raspberry jam in each cup

Preparation:

1. To make the cookie dough, in a medium mixing-bowl, mix the butter and sugar till creamy. Add the egg and pinch of salt. Slowly add your flour in parts till all mixed together. Scrape the bowl every once in a while.

2. Put the dough into the fridge for 15 minutes to make it easier to work with. Divide the dough in two. 3. Put the half you aren't working back in the fridge.

4. Roll out the dough till it's about 1/2 inch thick.

5. Cut out about 2inch circles and drape each circle over the bottom side of a mini cupcake tin and smooth out. 

6. Chill whilst preheating oven to 350º F

7. Slip cookies into the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and let them cool on the pan for about 10 minutes

8. Remove them from the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

9. You can prepare the cheesecake filling while baking. Mix sweetened condensed milk, sour cream and cream cheese in a medium bowl, until combined. Add lemon juice and mix well.

10. Place 1 tsp of raspberry jam in each cookie bowl. Fill with cheese cream filling. 

11. Keep in the fridge until set (about 4 hours). 

12. They are better the next day. Can be stored several days on the fridge.

Target Haul - e.l.f Cosmetics

Sorry I have been away for so long. I came back from my vacation to Vermont this past Labor Day weekend and spent all of it relaxing and just enjoying being away from work and NY. I have a lot of posts to catch up on and had lots of packages when I got home. So I'll do my best to get writing and reviewing. I miss Vermont already but it feels good to be back, besides being super, crazy busy at work.

Here is my latest Target haul.  I did have an item to review from the last haul which was a movie, but I'm not really good at writing about movies. Especially without giving away the whole movie plot so I decided to skip on that item. (Sorry!)

But I had gone to Target during one of my lunch breaks and picked up some items off the clearance shelf in the Health & Beauty section. There were some Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips with some okay pattern, but what really caught my eye was the e.l.f. cosmetics, which stands for eyes, lips & face. I've never used this brand before but it is one of the inexpensive brands that Target sells.  For all the items I got, I spend $6 + tax. I figured at that price, why not give it a try.

e.l.f Get The Look Beach Beauty, 28 piece day palette (Limited Edition) - This palette retails on e.l.f.'s website for $6.00; I got it for $3.00. It's a nice small, compact makeup palette. It comes with a little mirror, small eye sponge and lip gloss brush duo. It has two blushes, two bronzers, 16 eyeshadows and 8 lip glosses. The eye shadows are very light and shimmery. The blush really pops with just a little dab and the bronzer went well with my skin tone. I've only used one of the lip glosses. It's not super sticky but does moisturize my lips. I'm not a huge lip gloss fan but I like that the one I've used just gives me a hint of color and compliments my natural lip color. I actually brought this up to Vermont and it was super convenient and was easy for me to use while up there.

e.l.f Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick - I got these for $1.00 each; They originally retail for $2.00. I got them in Like a Boss, a dark, rich blue and Check me out, a sparkly plum. They are a creamy eyeshadow and go on smooth.  I have not used it yet but I see it being easy to swipe on my eyelids and go out the door, quick and easy.

 e.l.f. Essential Triple Tip Waterproof Eyeliner Pen - This retails for $2.00 and I got it for $1.00. It has this unique tip that looks like three little prongs. You can swipe it on thin or thick and angle it to get different strokes. It's kind of like having a calligraphy pen. The harder your push the more saturated the color. It's pretty cool and I see myself putting it to good use when I draw on some winged-eyeliner looks. 

Point is...
I give these products 10 out of 10. I'm really happy that I finally got a chance to try out this brand of cosmetics and I got it for 50% off their original price. The quality is amazing for a low cost. Great way to keep your own budget and still get great products. I'm really interested in trying other products from e.l.f. Next, I'm going to look into their foundations.

Fiore & Once Upon A Starry Night Review [#5]

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not posted in so long. It's been crazy busy at work this past month. I am actually going on Vermont tomorrow with my lovely boyfriend so I had a lot of projects to finish. I decided to post a review before I leave and go on an amazing adventure. I will be posting about my vacation when I get back.

Because I have so many nail polishes to review, I've been trying to combine different brands and figure out what goes well together. I decided to pair Fiore by Julep and Once Upon A Starry Night by I Love Nail Polish.

Here is the description given about these two:

Fiore  - "Espresso brown crème from the It Girl style."

Once Upon A Starry Night - "This dreamy nail polish was made using a variety of blue, silver, white, prism, and star glitters. Once Upon a Starry Night contains tiny silver stars to accent the lovely snow dusted evening effect the polish delivers. This nail polish looks absolutely stunning up close. You’ll love it!"

Here is two coats of Fiore.  It's a nice dark, rich color. It certain lighting it can be very brown or a blue-dark gray. It's a great color for Fall. It goes on smooth and glossy.

Here is a two coats of Once Upon A Starry Night. I didn't have to dab to get a good coat. There is a good amount of glitter in this polish.  It has fine glitter, circles and stars in white, silver and blue.  Also I love the rubberized handle on the brush. Makes it very easy hold the brush steady and paint evenly. 

I decided to use Seche Vite to top of my manicure. I think it really coats over glitter well and keeps them from sticking out too much. As you can see below, with the flash, it gives Fiore a blue-gray tint.  

My manicure lasted about two weeks. Taking it off wasn't terrible but you do have to scrub a little bit to get the glitter off. I think the combination was pretty and Fiore brought out the glitter. What do you think of this manicure? What do you think would go well with Fiore or Once Upon A Starry Night? 

Well that is it for my review. My next review will be an End of Summer combination. I hope you enjoyed readying and I will see you all when I get back. Happy Polishing!

Julep August Box 2013

I'm just writing a short post about my latest Julep subscription box, August It Girl. I have yet to really try the products so I just wanted to showcase what I received. 

Here is the outside of the box.

Maven is turning two!

Look how cute everything is packaged!

Here is what I received.

So I stuck with the It Girl style because I really liked the colors compared to the other ones and did not need the beauty product.

Julep Nail Polish - 

Nellie - Pink fuschia creme. $14.00 Regular / $11.20 Maven

Marjorie - Citrus orange frost. $14.00 Regular / $11.20 Maven

Fiore - Espresso brown creme. $14.00 Regular / $11.20 Maven

Also they send a pack of Forget-Me-Not flower seeds as a "Thank You" to all their mavens for helping them grow. I can't wait to plant them!

Anyone else receive the August Julep box? What style do you have? 

Julep Intro Box: It Girl

So I had posted that I signed up to become a Julep Maven and my intro box was FREE.  I took the survey and I was first placed in the Boho Glam style but I really liked the It Girl box so I changed it. I also purchased some add-ons to my box.  

If you are interested in become a Julep Maven, I'd appreciate it if you signed up through my refer a friend link. Here is what I got in my intro box plus the add-on purchases:

Here is the welcome letter inside the box.

Here is the It Girl Box. Everything was wrapped up carefully with pink and black paper.

Here is everything that came in my box.

1. Julep Nail Polish - 
I have yet to try most of these colors but I'm excited to have them. They are just unique and pretty.  Here's what I got:
Eden - Blue violet creme. $14.00 Regular / $11.20 Maven
Bunny- Crisp white linene with fine gold shimmer. $14.00 Regular / $9.99 Sale
Stefani - Gold flecked grey metallic. $14.00 Regular / $7.99 Sale

2. Julep Rock Star Hand Creme - Sample
"Anti-aging, emollient blend of shea butter, glycerin, coconut oil, and vitamin E keeps hands hydrated, even after washing. This non-greasy, fast-absorbing formula will leave you cheering for an encore. Rock on." Currently, a full 3 oz. bottle of this hand creme is out of stock online, but it's priced at $20.00 Regular / $16.00 Maven.  It has a light floral scent. It doesn't feel greasy on my hands and leaves a slight sheen on my hands after it was absorbed into my skin, giving them the look and feel of soft hands. I would definitely buy this hand creme the next time it is in stock.

3. Add-ons - 
I decided to add on a few more nail polishes since the intro box was free. I have yet to try these as well. I have a lot of nail polish to try and swatch but here's what I got:

a. 2013 Color of the Year Duo - $28.00 Regular / $18.00 Sale
Angelina - Emerald green with a silver shimmer frost. 
Esmeralda - Jeweled emerald multi-dimensional glitter.

b. Portia - Sheer tropical blue with opalescent glitter. $14.00 Regular / $7.99 Sale

c. Julia - Purple orchid with golden micro-glitter metallic. $14.00 Regular / $11.20 Maven

d. Drew + A FREE gift - 

I. Drew - Fabulous fuchsia creme. $14.00 Regular / $11.20 Maven
II. Julep Instant Warming Foot Scrub - $22.00 Regular / $12.99 Sale
"This cucumber mint scented scrub warms up on contact like magic. With natural pumice to exfoliate, chili pepper oil to stimulate circulation, and vitamin E to nourish, it's an all-in-one rejuvenating treat for your feet." It's says that you can use this 2-3 times a week. I have used this once so far. Even after the first use, I can feel a difference in my skin. They feel softter, clean, and have a very light mint scent. The scrub has just the right amount of grit; It doesn't feel like you are scratching your skin raw, but it scrubs off the dirt and excess dead skin off.  When you first apply the scrub, you feel this warm sensation instantly from the chili pepper oil, but it doesn't last long while scrubbing. When you dry your skin, you feel a slight tingly sensation from it.  I'll have to see how soft my feet get after using it a few more times.  

Point is...
I'm loving my Julep subscription.  So far I love the It Girl style but I love that I do have the option to switch styles around if I see something I rather have in a different box. The beauty products are very nice and the nail polish colors are gorgeous.  Though I'm on a no buy nail polish for the next three months, I'm super happy that this subscription box has a skip a month option or give to a friend.  We'll have to see what next month's box holds and how well I resist the urge to purchase. Wish me luck!

What do you think of the intro It Girl box? Have you tried or own any of these beauty products? Any colors you are dying to have? Let me know down below!