Great bake sale recipes are sweet and easy to make

These bake sale recipes are family favorites taken from Hanahau'oli School's Cookbook, published a few years ago to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Though not a true cheesecake, this chocolate-flecked New York-style pie is easily put together with the help of a food processor. (If you don't have one, crush the cookies to crumbs inside a zippered plastic bag, using a rolling pin, then combine with melted butter. The cream cheese mixture can be blended well by hand.)

Oreo Cheesecake

• 1 bag of Oreo cookies
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 4 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 eggs
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a food processor, process half a bag of Oreos and the melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-springform pan to form crust. Place the crust in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to set the crust.

Process cream cheese, sugar and heavy whipping cream. Add eggs, flour and vanilla. Process until smooth. Pour half of the batter into crust. Crumble remaining half a bag of Oreos onto the batter. Pour the other half of the batter into the pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Test the center of the cheesecake with a toothpick to be sure it is done.

Mochiko is, of course, sweet (or glutinous) rice flour. You can find it in the Asian section of most supermarkets or even more cheaply in Chinatown. Mochi tends to puff up when it's baked but will collapse and become dense and chewy. It's best eaten within a couple of days. Note that you have your choice of pan sizes here, which affects baking time; the smaller the pan, the thicker the layer, the longer it takes to bake.

Pumpkin Mochi

• 1 pound plus 1/4 cup mochiko
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 (29-ounce) can solid packed pumpkin
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 blocks butter, melted
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a 9-by-13-inch pan or a 13-by-17-inch pan. Bake for one hour if using smaller pan; 45 minute if using larger pan.

Chocolate chip cookies are everybody's favorite. These make use of grated chocolate as well as chocolate chips and add healthful oatmeal to create a dense, chocolately, chewy cookie.

World's Best and Most Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 5 cups oatmeal
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 24 ounces chocolate chips
• 1 (18-ounce) Hershey's chocolate bar, grated
• 3 cups nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Measure oatmeal and process in blender or food processor to make an oat flour. In large bowl, combine oatmeal with flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Set aside.

Cream butter with both sugars, add eggs and vanilla and mix. Combine creamed mixture with oatmeal/flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, Hershey bar and nuts (if you are using them).

Roll or scoop into balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool on racks. Store in airtight container.

At the Hanahau'oli School Children's Fair, several oversize batches of this pesto always disappear quickly — a great thing to have in the cupboard for a quick night's dinner.

Pesto

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 cups tightly packed fresh basil
• (rinsed, drained and stemmed)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Optional: 2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Combine oil, nuts, basil, garlic and salt in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in cheese. This recipe makes about 12 ounces of pesto.

Serving suggestions:

• Toss with buttered fettuccine or linguini. This recipe will dress up to 1.25 lbs of pasta.
• Stir small amount of pesto into broth-based vegetable or meat soup.
• Whisk a small amount of pesto into vinaigrette for tossed salads.
• Mix pesto with softened butter and use on steamed vegetables, poached fish, or omelets.