A simple dessert that will satisfy your cheese cake cravings without going overboard with the calories. And making it is as easy as, well, pie!

Cheese Pie with Peaches

This isn’t a savory cheese pie like a spinach or a tomato cheese pie. It’s a dessert recipe I got from my Third Aunt a long time ago. It’s really very similar to a cheese cake except that the base is made using crushed Marie biscuits. You also don’t use as much cream cheese (only one 250g block) as most cheese cake recipes. And I would say it’s not as rich as a New York-style cheese cake.
Unlike some previous cheese cake attempts, I have never had any cracking issues when baking this cheese pie. I’ve even over-baked it a few times and it still comes out pretty good. So for those who don’t like the hassle of a bain marie (water bath) or if you like cheese cakes but would rather have a lighter version, this is the recipe for you.

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These chewy cookies are so addictive, people will be begging for more.

I first tried these dirt cookies when my friend Nana made them for a party. They are seriously addictive! And why not when you consider what is in them. In order to make these cookies, you need to first buy some Oreo cookies and crush them up. Then the Oreos are incorporated into the batter and baked. That’s a cookie within a cookie!

I regretted not posting them for Halloween because these cookies are great for Halloween since they look like dirt (hence the name) and fits the Halloween theme. However, they are so good that they deserve to be baked any time at all and especially now during the Christmas baking season. Be a rebel and bake these instead of the usual pretty, fancied up Christmas cookies. ^_^

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These Chinese almond cookies are way better than any restaurant cookie. Flaky-crumbly, yummy, and impossible to resist.

Chinese Almond Cookies

Updated 20 Dec 2009
Originally posted 14 March 2007

The first time I ever had these almond cookies was when I received them as a favor for my bridal shower. They were so delicious I literally inhaled those cookies! Aunty Charlene (sister to Aunty Marlene, who gave me that wonderful banana muffin recipe) told me that she got the recipe from her dad a long time ago. Thankfully, she was willing to share her recipe with me and since that time, I’ve made it for countless occasions. I even use them as favors at my kids’ birthday parties now (talk about coming full circle!).

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WARNING: this is NOT a cheap cookie!

Ultimate Italian Almond Macaroons

So I had checked out FoodGal Carolyn Jung’s blog right before Christmas last year, when she had posted a recipe for this cookie. She said it was the one cookie that she did every year and she always got requests for the cookie. Her post was so compelling that I went out that week and got myself all I needed to make this cookie.

It was such a simple recipe! It is a little bit messy and gooey when rolling the cookie dough in the slivered almonds but the resulting cookie is a delight—a really yummy, chewy, almond delight. And the smell of the almonds when it’s baking will get you in the holiday mood like nothing else. The fragrance is so amazing!

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