Ghirardelli Mississippi Mud Bars

1/2 c butter or margerine, softened
3/4 c brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 bar (4 oz) semi-sweet baking bar, chopped and divided
1 bar (4 oz) white chocolate baking bar, chopped and divided
1 c walnuts, chopped and divided

Preheat to 350. In a large bowl. beat butter with sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add vanilla and egg, mix on low speed until incorporated. combine flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Mix in 1/2 of the chopped semi-sweet and white chocolate bars and 1/2 c walnuts. Spread in a greased 9" square baking pan. Bake for 12-15 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Sprinkle with remaining semi-sweet and white chocolates. Cover with foil. Let stand 5 minutes or until chocolates are melted. Swirl chocolates with small knife to marbleize. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c walnuts. Cool in pan until chocolate is firm. Cut into bars. Makes 1 doz bars.

Jello Popcorn Balls

Lyn Babb
1 c. white corn syrup
1/2 c sugar
1 (3 oz) pkg jello- any flavor
1/2 lb peanuts (coarsely chopped)
9 cups popcorn popped

Bring syrup and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat. Add jello stirring until dissolved. Add nuts and pour over popcorn, stirring well. Quickly form into 1-1/2 inch balls.

Makes 4 dozen

Mascarpone Chocolate and Strawberry Parfait

1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-1/2 tbsp sugar, divided
2 tbsp half-and-half
3/4 mascarpone cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries, divided
4 whole strawberries

1. Combine chocolate chips, 1/2 tbsp sugar and the half and half in a small heavy saucepan. Cook over very low heat 2 minutes or until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Set aside. Stir together mascarpone, vanilla and remaining 1 tbsp sugar in small bowl. Set aside.

2. Spoon 1/4 cup strawberries in each of 4 parfait glasses. Layer each as follows: 2 tbsp mascarpone mixture, 1/4 cup chopped strawberries, 1 tbsp chocolate mixture, 1 tbsp mascarpone mixture and 1/2 tbsp chocolate mixture. Refrigerate 1 hour. Top each parfait with 1 whole strawberry.

Serve 4

The BEST Pumpkin Pie

Camille Farias

2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 can (29 oz) Pumpkin Puree' (Libby's)
2 cans (12 oz) Evaporated Milk
2 unbaked 9 inch deep dish pie shells or 4 9 inch shallow pie shells

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
Pour into pie shells
Bake in preheated 425 oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 350. Bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve or refrigerate

*This is the recipe off the back of the Libby's Pumpkin can, with a few tweaks in it. Use Libby's if you can find it. I've used store brand pumpkin before and it's not so good. The extra sweetness and spice really up the yumminess of this recipe, and it's always the first pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner to disappear.

Cherry Cheesecake Tarts

2 (8 oz) pkgs of cream cheese
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 c sugar
MIX
1 can cherry pie filling, nilla wafers or graham crackers, cupcake papers

Oven at 350

Place papers in tins. 1 wafer or 1/4 crushed graham craker in the bottom of paper.
Put 1 heaping tbsp. of mix on top. Bake 15-20 minutes. Let cool. Put 3-4 cherries on top.

Makes 24