English Muffins (and Crab Benedict)

My favorite brunch place in the city is a little place called Town's End Restaurant, which we've nicknamed "the muffin place" because of their complementary muffins and scones. It's my favorite restaurant for three reasons: 1) delicious complementary baked goodies 2) it's a nice walking distance from my place and 3) their crab benedict. Trust me, whenever there is a crab benedict on a brunch menu, I've ordered it, and from all the places I've been, this restaurant has the best. I think a main reason for this is that they bake their own english muffins (they bake all their baked goods there). So I decided to make a little challenge for myself and make a crab benedict with everything from scratch.

Oatmeal Lemon Blueberry Scones

If you want to impress people, make them scones. They won't know how easy it actually is! Biscuits and scones are pretty easy, believe it or not. Making biscuits from scratch, from start to finish (minus the baking time) takes about 10 minutes. Scones take a little bit more time, but it's totally worth it if you want to eat a bunch of scones.

Minty Oreo Cheesecake Brownie

This is the illegitimate love child of three recipes. In addition to those three recipes, I also bastardized it with a little of my own madness. Oh yes, this brownie is a dirty dirty brownie.

My boyfriend requested that I make this Triple Layer Fudgy Mint Oreo Brownie except he said to make it really fudgy. I know fudgy brownies! I decided to borrow the minty oreo idea, modified this brownie recipe from My Baking Addiction as the brownie base. I'm not a big fan of the white chocolate/marshmallow tops of the Triple Layer Fudgy Mint Oreo Brownie recipe, so I decided to top it off with minty cheesecake from this cheesecake brownie recipe also from My Baking Addiction.

My sister sent me an IM that said:

"Omg your brownies are too much ... I'm going to have a heart attack and die."

So yeah...this will also be known as the Heart Attack Brownie.

Are you ready for this monster?

Lemon Bars

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I actually made these lemon bars the day after I made the lemon strawberry cheesecake squares because I had so many lemons. Don't worry, I brought the lemon bars over to my friend's house along with the cheesecake squares.

Lemon & Strawberry Cheesecake Creme Brulee Bars

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My mom has a lemon tree that grows a lot of lemons. The Chopping Block's mom has three lemon trees! Do you know how many lemons that means for us? A whole lot of delicious lemons! I saw these cute little lemon cheesecake squares on Lauren's Latest, and I thought what a good way to use up some of my lemons! I doubled her recipe to get 32 squares! Whoa! I bought them over to a friend's house to share, so don't judge!

Oreo Cheesecake

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What a delightful surprise! I got a text from my neighbor, Chris, that he has a giant tripod he didn't need and whether or not I wanted it. In exchange for the tripod, I baked him an oreo cheesecake. That's what he requested! He didn't want any variation of the cheesecake, just the classic cheesecake. (I also made him go to the store and get the things I didn't have... like cream cheese). I know, I know. Everyone (and their moms) should have cream cheese in their refrigerators at all time.

"Better Than Sex" Coconut Cake

Every Christmas my boyfriend's aunt would make a delicious coconut cake. Again, I was too shy to ask for the recipe, so I looked it up online. I guess there are lots of variations for the cake, but I think this recipe closest resembles her cake. She doesn't put pineapples on it, and personally, I think pineapples on this cake would be weird.

Thumbprint Cookies

These jam filled cookies are one of my favorites! Someone brought these cookies to our Christmas party and I had to make my own! I was too shy to ask this person for their recipe, so I found one from Land O'Lake Butter. :)