Apple Cinnamon and Cheese Biscuits

 

1 tube large Grand Flaky Biscuits
2 large apples
1 stick butter
1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp. cinnamon
8 slices cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Use a spring pan or casserole dish large enough for 8 large Grand biscuits without them touching.  Pull the biscuits in half and place 8 half on the bottom of the baking dish.  Core, peel and cut the apples into 1/2" chunks (approx.).  Place in a pan with the butter, sugar and cinnamon.  Allow the sugar and butter to melt over med. high heat and the apples to cook until they're barely firm in the center.  Spoon 1/2 the apples over the biscuit halves.  Place a slice of cheese over each half.  Top with remaining 8 biscuit halves.  Spoon remaining apples over each half and drizzle with the liquid.  Bake 45 minutes or until biscuits are done.  Sprinkle with more cheddar cheese (optional).  

Comments:  This dish is so easy yet so tasty that even if you've never eaten cooked apples or apple pie with cheddar cheese, you can't help but love it.  This idea actually hit me in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep.  I had made the crescent roll apples before but this one comes out more like a cinnamon roll.  Which reminds me, taste the apples when you boil them to see if you need to add more cinnamon.  I like a strong taste that soaks into the biscuits.

Crescent Apple Pie

2 tubes (8 oz.) crescent rolls
3/4 cup of melted butter
3 Granny Smith apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 cup Sprite

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Peel, core and slice apples into 6 wedges each (total of 18 wedges).  Roll each wedge into 1 crescent each.  Place in 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish.  Mix melted butter, sugar and cinnamon.  Spoon over crescents.  Pour Sprite along edges of dish but not over the crescents.  You want the cinnamon sugar to stay on top of the crescents and not washed off.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until browned and crescents bottoms are done. 

Comment:  If you make this dish just once, you'll never make nor buy another apple pie again!  This is simple, pretty, and soooooo delicious.  Imagine what it would taste topped with ice cream while still good and hot.  You can also make this with peaches - 4 large, or maybe even pears.  You and your guests won't be able to get enough of this one.

Coconut Pudding

1 pkg. Global Sugar Sprinkled Coconut Cookies
1 pkg. shredded coconut
2 pkg. vanilla or coconut pudding mix

In a 13 x 9 baking dish place 1 layer of cookies.  Sprinkle coconut over cookies.  Make pudding according to package directions.  Slowly pour over coconut.  Top with another layer of cookies.  Refrigerate

Comment:  This is a recipe that I came up with making it in place of banana pudding.  I make my own pudding but you can use instant or cook style pudding.  If you don't find coconut pudding or you make your own, add about 1/2 tsp. of coconut extract.  The cookies I used are the Global but any coconut cookie will work.  The Global are small and I used about 60 cookies.  You can even use vanilla wafers if you want.  This dish turned out so good.  My 99 year old neighbor dug into it as soon as I took it over.  It is so simple and a very inexpensive dish to make.  This will serve 8-10 depending upon the size of your serving.

Apple Cobbler/Pie

2 cans refrigerator cinnamon buns
1 can (21 oz.) apple pie filling
butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Separate one can of the cinnamon buns and cut each into 1/4's.  Place them loosely into the bottom of a spring form pan (or a casserole dish 9 x 9 (approx).  Open the can of apple pie filling.  Cut the pieces into small chunks and sprinkle half over the buns.  Open the 2nd can and cut into 1/4's.  Scatter these evenly over the apples.  Top with the other half of the apple pie filling.  Bake 30-35 minutes.  While still hot, dabble with butter and squeeze the icing that comes with the cinnamon buns over the apples.  Serve hot.  Will make 10-12 servings.

Comment:  I'm always trying to come up with different sweets to make and take to the nursing home and had thought about making monkey bread.  My idea was to use the cinnamon buns as my dough and pour the apple pie filling over the top letting it sink in.  But when I opened the pie filling I noticed how thick it was so changed my plan and worked it up in the method above.  This is one of the best apple pie anythings I think I've ever had.  It isn't really a cobbler because it doesn't have the thin filling.  It isn't really a pie for the same reason.  It is sort of a monkey bread but you eat it with a fork and don't pull the dough off.  What it really is is delicious!  This would be great with vanilla ice cream.  And it is so easy to make that you can make and take it just about any gathering.  And even if you can't keep it warm or heat it back up - its good cold!  You can change the filling to whatever you might like as long as it goes with the cinnamon flavor in the buns.

Strawberry Pudding

1 14 oz. Can Eagle Brand milk
1 cup cold water
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
1 container (8 oz) Cool Whip 
Box vanilla wafers
1 qt. fresh strawberries, sliced 

chocolate shavings (optional)

In large bowl combine Eagle Brand milk and water. Add pudding mix. Beat well. Chill 5 min.
Fold in Cool Whip.  In a 9 x 13 (approx) dish put a layer of vanilla wafers.  Add the sliced strawberries.  Add another layer of vanilla wafers.  Spread the pudding mix evenly over wafers.  Sprinkle with chocolate shavings.  Chill thoroughly.

Comment:  This is sooooooo good and so simple to make.  It reminded me of banana pudding using strawberries instead of the bananas.  You can even change this up and use bananas or cherries or pineapple.  Great for a cool, light dessert at a cookout.

Pina Colada Fluff

1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 pineapple (peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tsp. coconut extract (optional)
1 container (16 oz. or 2 8 oz.) cool whip

Combine all ingredients mixing until pudding had dissolved.  Refrigerate 2-3 hrs. or until set.

Comment:  The original recipe called for 1 can of pineapple with juice, no coconut extract and no coconut.  It also called for 1 8 oz. container of cool whip.  I had a fresh pineapple that needed to be used so I used that instead of the canned and increased the amount of the cool whip to add extra moisture.  I also added the coconut and extract because I love the taste of a good Pina Colada.  This is simply delicious.  As for the number of servings, I have no idea.  I'm taking it to the nursing home and it ended up filling the cool whip container so I would say at least 8-10?

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 coconut cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix butter, nuts and chips.  Add eggs until well blended.  Mix in cake mix.  Make into walnut size balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  The cookies will still be very soft until completely cooled.  Makes about 3 dozen depending on size.

Comment:  The cake mix cookies can be made with any flavor of cake mix.  I normally just pick the flavor I want and add ingredients such as nuts, chips, etc.  You can even add dried fruit to say a pineapple cake mix.  Or use a pineapple cake mix and add coconut.  Just Think With Your Taste Buds and come up with your favorite cookies using this simple recipe.

Apple Dumplins'

1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground 

1 pkg. 10 canned biscuits

4 apples, cored and cut into 1/4s

1 stick butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 

1 cup water 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 500°F. Mix cinnamon and nutmeg in small bowl. For each dumplin place 1 biscuit between 2 pieces of parchment paper.  Using a roller or smooth, thick glass, roll out the biscuit until very thin.  Remove top piece of parchment paper.  Sprinkle with cinnamon nutmeg mixture.  Place 1 apple fourth in center of dough.  Cut off 1 tsp. of butter from stick and place in the center of the apple.  Carefully fold dough up over apple half, pinching seams together to seal. Place dumplings, seam-side down, in greased 13x9-inch baking dish.  Place into hot oven for 10 minutes or until the crust begins to brown.

While the dumplins are in the oven bring sugar, water and remaining butter to boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla; set aside.

After the dumplins have browned, reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Pour sauce over dumplings. Bake 40 to 45 minutes longer or until apples are tender and pastry is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

Comment:  I used a square cast iron frying pan.  With 4 apples you end up with 16 fourths so I placed one piece in the pan to use as a tester for the apples.  This allowed me to pierce it for tenderness after about 20 minutes so I wouldn't have to pierce the dumplins.  I also sliced up the remaining pieces and placed one slice between each of the dumplins so they wouldn't tough and stick together.  About half way through cooking I pulled my dish out and spooned the sauce over the tops of the dumplins, then put them back into the oven to finish cooking.

Mandarin Orange Cottage Cheese

1 large carton (24 oz.) cottage cheese
1 carton (8 oz.) Cool Whip
2 cans Mandarin oranges drained (about 1 cup)
1 pkg. Orange Jello

Mix cottage cheese, cool whip and jello until well blended.  Fold in oranges.  Cover and refrigerate.

Comment:  I have a dear friend who I visit every Sunday at a nursing home.  I know the food there may not be the best so I try to bring something special to each visit.  This always prompts a conversation about food and old recipes.  She told me about a dish that she had a long time ago that was so good, so easy and only required 4 ingredients.  She didn't know the measurements but said it was something she really missed.  I went by the store on my way home and bought the 4 ingredients above perfected it with my 1st try. 

This dish is creamy and feels so cool to the tongue.  I've actually made it twice.  Once using the oranges and orange jello, once using pineapple chunks and pineapple jello.  Both are delicious.  This also makes a large amount.  I would guess the number of servings as 10-12 depending on your serving size.

Quick & Easy Apple Pie

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 pie crusts
1 cans apple pie filling
cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a 9" cast iron frying pan melt the butter. Remove 1 Tbsp. of butter and set aside.  Add brown sugar and stir until blended and bubbly.  Remove from heat.  Top with 1 pie crust.  Pour apple pie filling on top of crust.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (about 1 tsp.)  Top pie filling with 2nd pie crust.  Brush with the 1 Tbsp. of melted butter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (about 1 tsp.).  Bake 30-40 minutes or until crust is done and lightly browned.

Comments:  This recipe came from Trisha Yearwood's cooking show and yes I made a slight change.  I used 2 cans of apple pie filling instead of 1.  I also used my square copper pan so it would hold the 2 cans of apple pie filling.  One thing you will notice is that the butter/sugar may overflow to the top and create a caramel which is delicious.   For a dish that is so simple I couldn't believe how delicious it is.  I took some to one of my food testers and she added a scope of ice cream.  I took her a very large serving and she said it was so good that she ate it all in one sitting.  I want to try this using other fruits - peaches, strawberries, blueberries....

S'Mores Brownies

1 pkg (family size) brownie mix
chocolate chips
marshmallows

Make brownies according to directions on package.  Cool until they are lightly warm.  Top with chocolate chips.  Top with marshmallows.  Turn oven to broil.  Place under broiler and allow to lightly brown.  Cool completely before slicing.

Comments:  I don't like chocolate but my food testers do.  I had an idea for a S'Mores Cake but when I saw that I had a Family Size box of brownies I decided to use it instead with the idea of them giving this dish the gooey texture.  It worked!!!!  Guess you could use a cake mix but it just wouldn't be the same.  This is a must try for chocolate lovers.

Strawberry Shortcake

This is such an easy, yet delicious Strawberry Shortcake to make.  It's one that I actually forgot about and haven't made it in years.

1 round Angle Food cake
10-12 fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced thin
1 pkg. strawberry jello
1 carton cool whip

Evenly place the strawberries in a jello mold (or bunt pan sprayed with non-stick).  Place the cake on top breaking it and pressing it down so it will fit.  Mix the jello with 1 3/4 cups of hot water until dissolved.  Pour over the cake allowing it to soak down to the bottom as well as into the breaks in the cake.  Refrigerate 3-4 hrs.  Pop out onto a plate and fill center with cool whip.

Comments:  This is such a moist cake yet not soggy due to the jello.  It's so good and you can even do this with other flavors such as blackberries, peaches, etc.  You can also use frozen strawberries if fresh aren't in season but get those without the juice.  Plus, you can make this with sugar free jello helping to make it more diabetic friendly.

Peanut Butter Brownie Pudding Cake

1 Family Size Package of Brownie Mix
1 pkg. Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1 3/4 Cup Milk
2/3 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 cups Cool Whip

Cook brownies according to package directions using a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish sprayed with non-stick.  Cool brownie mix completely.  Scoop out 24 small holes in the brownies making sure not to go through the bottom.  Reserve for later.  Mix pudding and milk until blended and starts to thicken.  Whisk in peanut butter until blended.  Whisk in cool whip until blended.  Spread over brownies.  Sprinkle with brownies that were spooned out.  Refrigerate at least 2 hrs.  Makes 24 servings.

Comment:  This was a Kraft recipe that I made just some small changes to.  I used the family size instead of the regular size.  I only used 1 3/4 cups of milk instead of 2 and the milk I used was almond milk.  I didn't drizzle the top with melted peanut butter because there was enough flavor in the pudding mix and just didn't think it needed it.  These turned out so good!  Everyone that was lucky enough to try them raved and wanted more.

Lime Bars

I found this recipe online and of course made my changes (watch for notations).

Crust:
5 ounces animal crackers (about 2 1/2 cups animal crackers)

3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

Pinch salt

4 tablespoons butter, melted

(I didn't have animal crackers but spotted a box of Honey Nut Cherrios and used 2 1/2 cups that I put in a food processor and ground until they were flour like, added the melted butter and had my crust.)

Filling:

2 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 tbsp grated fresh lime zest (from about 2 limes)

1 can (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk

Pinch salt

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 3-4 regular limes or 20 Key limes)

(The only change I made here was to use 4 ounces of cream cheese instead of the 2.)

Garnish

3/4 cup shredded coconut, toasted (optional)

(I used organic, non-sweetened coconut that I added when I started my baking which allowed it to toast in the oven as the bars cooked.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F, adjusting an oven rack to the middle position. Line an 8-inch (I used an 8 x 12 clear casserole dish) square baking pan with aluminum foil, letting two opposing edges hang over at least an inch or so. Grease the foil with cooking spray.  (I didn't use the foil but did spray my baking dish with non-stick spray.)

For the crust, process the animal crackers, sugar and salt together to fine crumbs in a blender or food processor. Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse to incorporate (or stir together in a bowl with a fork). Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press the crumbs into an even layer. Bake the crust until fragrant and golden, about 15-18 minutes.

For the filling, while crust bakes, in a medium bowl, stir the cream cheese, lime zest and salt together until combined. Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth (you can use a handheld electric mixer, if you want). Whisk in the egg yolk and lime juice until combined.  (Note, when the lime juice is added the mixture will thicken, I'm assuming from the acid in the lime.)  Pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake the bars until the filling is set and the edges just slightly begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, 15-17 minutes.  (Mine took about 30 minutes to reach this point.)

Let the bars cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Then cover the pan with foil and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours. Remove the bars from the pan using the foil overhang and cut into squares. Sprinkle with toasted coconut if desired.

Comment:  One of my food testers bought too many limes so she gave 4 to me.  I promised her I would come up with something good using the limes.  After looking at several recipes for lime bars this is the one I liked the best and the one that was actually the easiest.  The cereal crust was great!  Not too sweet and probably a bit healthier than the animal crackers would have been.  You can make this with graham cracker crust too.  The flavor of this was simply delicious.  The 3 lucky food testers that were given this dish to try all put in a request for me to make it again.

Better Than Sex Cake

Sorry I don't have a picture of this cake.  Working with a new program and somehow lost the picture.  It was a pretty picture and tasty looking picture.  This is a picture I found that looks the closest to my cake.

1 Butter Yellow Cake Mix
Mix and bake according to directions using a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  Poke holes in the cake (I used a wooden spoon handle).  Allow to cool.

1 cup sugar
1 large can crushed pineapple with juice
While the cake is cooking combine the sugar and pineapple with juice in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over med. high heat allowing the sugar to melt.  Pour evenly over the cooled cake.

1 large box vanilla instant pudding mix
Make pudding mix according to box directions.  Spread evenly over pineapple.

Sprinkle with nuts and coconut.

Top with whipped topping and sprinkle with pecans.

Refrigerate.

Comment:  Shirley McLain, Author of Princess Adele's Dragon, sent this recipe to me to go with my review for her book.  As soon as I read it I knew I had to add this to my must make list.  I made it over the weekend and OMGoodness!  This cake is a gotta make many times again recipe.  I used unsweetened coconut and almond slivers which gave it a nice texture and taste.  So good.  I want to give this a try using a carton of frozen, thawed strawberries next.  This cake has many possibilities.

Humming Bird Cake

1 package Yellow Cake Mix (without pudding)

1 package (3.4 oz.) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling

4 eggs

1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained; reserve pineapple juice

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ cup finely chopped pecans

1 medium-size banana, mashed

¼ cup chopped Maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 cake pans.  Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, pineapple, juice from the pineapple and enough water to make 1 cup, oil and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Beat with electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes.  Add pecans, banana and cherries.  Mix well.  Pour into cake pans.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese frosting

8 ounces cream cheese softened at room temp

¹⁄₂ cup butter softened at room temp

3 ^1/2 cups powder sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped pecans
3 pineapple slices, well drained and cut into small pieces

In a bowl whip cream cheese and butter until well blended.  Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time blending well after each addition.  Mix in vanilla. 

Ice the bottom layer and side.  Sprinkle half of the pecans and half of the pineapple over the top.  Add 2nd layer.  Finish icing and sprinkle top with remaining pecans and pineapple.  You can add chopped cherries for more color if wanted.

Comment:  This is a combination of 2 recipes that I found for Humming Bird Cakes.  The 1st one used made a tube cake but I wanted layers.  It also didn't have the added nuts and pecans on top.  Plus its frosting was a drizzle so I found a recipe for a cream cheese frosting I liked and decided to use it.  Another change was the pineapple.  I didn't have a can of crushed but did have a can of slices.  I simply drained it well, crushed and drained again.  I ended up using 4 circle slices for inside the cake and then the 3 slices that I drained and cut into small pieces for my topping.  By using the larger can (20 oz.) of slices I ended up with 1 cup of juice and didn't have to add water.  This sure is a delicious cake!  Moist and full of flavors.

Coconut Pecan Bars

Crust:
1 cake mix1 stick melted butter, cooled

1 egg, slightly beaten

Top:
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans, roughly chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Pour cake mix, butter and egg into a bowl.  Mix well.  Press into baking dish.  In a medium size sauce pan on medium high heat combine coconut, nuts, sugar and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until mixture starts to thicken.  Remove from heat.  Cut cream cheese into chunks and add to mixture.  Stir until melted and blended.  Stir in vanilla.  Spread evenly over cake mix.  Bake 30 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Cut into bars.  Makes about 24 bars.

Comments:  I found this recipe online and since it had some of my favorite ingredients - coconut, nuts, cream cheese - I had to make it.  For my cake mix I used Butter Pecan.  Also, I had a couple bags of walnuts and only 1 bag of pecans so I used walnuts instead of pecans.  And believe me, I couldn't tell the difference I have a feeling due to using the Butter Pecan mix.  I also used rum extract instead of the vanilla, only because I had about 1/2 tsp. left and needed to use it up too before buying more.  I don't think the rum made that much difference, if any, in taste.  The recipe said to reduce heat and simmer until it starts to thicken.  Mine never did thicken so I added the cream cheese after most of the water had cooked out.  No matter what, this dish came out delicious!  My lucky food testers all had nothing but praises for it and one question.  When will you make this one again?!

Strawberry Pineapple Cobbler

25-30 whole strawberries
1 can (20 oz.) chunk pineapple
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Slice strawberries in half and place on bottom of dish.  Evenly pour pineapple with juice over strawberries.  Top evenly with coconut and walnuts.   Sprinkle dry cake mix over everything.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and pour on melted butter.  Bake 45 minutes.

Hot Chocolate Pie

3/4 cup crushed butter cookies
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1 pkg. pudding/pie filling - vanilla
1 pkg. Land o Lakes Cocoa Classics Hot Cocoa Mix
1 1/2 cups milk

Mix the crushed butter cookies with the marshmallow cream until crumbly.  Press into the bottom of a pie pan.  In a bowl combine pudding mix, dry package of cocoa mix and milk.  Whisk to blend and stir until it starts to thicken.  Pour into cookie crust.  Refrigerate.

Comment:  Every year I end up with my favorite butter cookies and this year I had 3 tins.  I can eat them, which I love doing or I can come up with something else to do with them.  I decided to give them a try as a pie crust.  These cookies are full of butter so I didn't want to add more, but I needed a way to make them stick together to form a crust.  Then I spotted the marshmallow cream!  Mixing the 2 together isn't as easy as you would think.  I used a fork to blend and eventually used my hands mixing until the crumbs were crumbly and allowing me to press into the pie pan.  You can go up the edges if you have enough or you can just cover the bottom like I did.  After doing this I had to come up with a filling.  I could use the box of vanilla pudding/pie mix but wanted some flavor.  That is when I spotted the Land O Lakes Coco Mix.  I'm not a chocolate lover but I do like a hot cup of flavored chocolate on a cold night so when I spotted a package of Amaretto I decided to give it a try.  Bingo!  It worked so well that I decided to make a 2nd pie using plain hot cocoa mix making it a chocolate pie.  To know which was which I sprinkled the top of the chocolate one with a little coco and the amaretto with almond slivers.  The pies were all approved and seconds were asked for by my Food Testers.  And the crust - it was different but in a delicious way.  You can bet I'll be making these pies often and will be 'playing' with the flavors, both through the crust as well as the filling.

Strawberry Jello Pie

1 1/4 cup apple juice (I used water)
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 pkg (4 serving size) Strawberry Gelatin
2 cups fresh strawberries (I used whole frozen)
1 graham cracker pie crust
Coolwhip

In a saucepan mix apple juice (or water), sugar and cornstarch.  Cook on medium heat 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add dry gelatin mix and stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved.  Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on the bottom of the crust.  Cover with the gelatin mix.  Refrigerate until firm.  Serve with topping.

Comment:  This is another old favorite that I found in an old Jello cookbook.  Every time I see a picture of this pie I think about the old Shoney's where they served a pie like this but in a regular crust, not the graham cracker type.  One tip that I must give when making this is to make sure your cornstarch mixture gets to the point of a thick gravy.  You want to be able to pour it over the berries but thick enough that it will become firm when cooled.  I didn't find fresh strawberries that looked very good so I did buy the whole frozen and sliced them down the middle.  I also filled my shell with 2 layers instead of just one to give it even more flavor.  This is a dish I will be making often but I think I'll try it with the regular pie shell that I bake instead of the graham just to see how much difference it will make.  I feel sure it will be delicious!