Benny Dorris

A-Team member

Holidays don't feel like holidays at the Dorris household without homemade candy. Each year, peppermints, fudge and chocolate pretzels abound, but my mom and grandma's candy turtles especially satisfy my sweet tooth. Likewise, my tendency to overindulge never fails to leave me with a stomachache at the end of the night.

Regardless, these candies are the very essence of the holidays to me. They go hand-in-hand with all our other family traditions. They take me back to my childhood. They even remind me of all my blessings beyond the little piece of sweetness in my hand. It's not a hard recipe at all.

Ingredients:

12-18 ounces unwrapped soft caramels, homemade or store-bought (My mom uses homemade, but apparently that's a family secret.)

6-9 ounces toasted pecan halves

8-12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

Preparation:

1. Use a nonstick surface or cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place pecans in clusters of four.

3. Place caramels in a microwave-safe container. Microwave until melted, stirring every 30-40 seconds. If they're still pretty stiff after the first two rounds, add a small amount of water.

4. Let caramel cool a little bit, and then spoon caramel onto the pecan clusters. Don't worry about getting it perfect!

5. Melt chocolate chips over a double boiler. (Can also be done in the microwave.)

6. Spoon the melted chocolate over the caramel to make a nice, even shell.

7. Let them cool at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

You're done!

Time to enjoy your own homemade caramel turtles! If they turn out bad, try it again before you blame me.

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Alex Frisby

A-Team member

My Grandma's Famous Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/2 package graham crackers

1/2 cup of melted butter

The filling

1 package lemon jello

1 tsp lemon juice

1 cup boiling water

1 package cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 can of chilled Milnut (evaporated) milk, whipped

These ingredients seem simple, but putting them all together to make the perfect cheesecake is somewhat of an art form that has to be practiced and perfected. I'll start with the easy part, the crust.

This was the part that my grandma always let me do when I was younger. She put the graham crackers in an airtight, ziplock bag and handed me a cup to pound the crackers into a powdery substance. After it is nice and smashed, pour it into your cake pan. We usually use a glass one, and honestly I have no idea what size it is. I do know that it's pretty big though, so just use one that's a decent size. Melt the butter in the microwave for a few seconds, and pour it over the powdery grahams while using your fingers to softly push it down into the bottom so it makes a crust all around the bottom. Set the pan aside, and now it's time for the best part, the filling!

1. Start boiling one cup of water on the stove. After it comes to a boil, dump the package of lemon jello in, and let it dissolve. Once it has dissolved, add in the lemon juice and set it to the side.

2. Next take the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and mix them together. Make sure the cream cheese has been sitting out throughout the whole process so when you get to this step it will be soft and easy to mix. After you get them mixed together pour your jello into the cream cheese mix, and stir it.

3. This next step is always the hardest for me. The evaporated milk-- my family uses the Milnot brand-- should be chilling in the refrigerator, so take it out, and pour it into a glass bowl. Take a mixer, and mix it until it gets frothy and fluffy. This part is the worst, but the most important if you want the cheesecake to be fluffy. It seems like it takes forever, and your hand will cramp up but just push through it.

4. Once the milnut starts getting to that state then you can stop and add in your jello/cream cheese mix. Do not dump the entire mix into the bowl, but take a little at a time and fold it into the whipped milk so that it doesn't kill all of the frothy, fluffy texture. After you get all of it folded together, pour the mixture on top of the graham cracker crust. We then usually cover it with foil, and it goes straight into the refrigerator to set up.

It's usually hard to wait a couple of hours for it to be ready, but I promise it will be worth it and that first bite will be heavenly. I will warn you though, if you are accustomed to the dense, thick cheesecake you get at the store, this is nothing like that. It is very light and airy and doesn't taste like plain cheesecake. The lemon jello isn't an overpowering flavor, but it is definitely present and changes the idea of a normal piece of cheesecake.

This has always been my favorite dessert from the holidays. I spent years watching my mom and grandma make it, and now it's been passed down to be my thing around the holidays. My family looks toward me now if the cheesecake isn't on the dessert table. I love how this tradition was handed down to me from my grandma, and I hope that one day I'll be able to teach my kids or grandkids how to make it and that people are able to eat the fluffy goodness of this cheesecake for a long time.