Yesterday was a coworkers birthday in my office. She is always talking about these cream cheese brownies, how much she loves them, how someone should make some and bring them in…. She has been making these not so subtle hints in my general direction ever since she heard that I like to bake… So I finally made them this week and brought them in for her yesterday. I only gave in because it was her birthday!
Today I was making a grocery list and realized that my list includes; butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips. All things that 6 months ago I would have said I would never ever have to buy again! And alas I do. This lead me to realize I have quite a back up of pictures of the many things I have baked since then that I have not yet shared on here!
Sorry it has been so long! I have decided that I will blog at least once a week until I am caught up (save the week that my Momma is visiting! I need to soak in all the Mommy and Me time I can, you all will just have to wait… more). It is summer and so the baking has slowed way down so I should be able to catch up with what I have done so far. I say that but then realize it is almost August and my last posting was way back in April… wow.
So they will be all over the place, all out of order, scattered, random, but you will get them all! Promise.
Today I figured I better start with the brownies that reminded me of this! The brownies that took the very last of a 25 lb box of Ghirardelli mini chocolate chips intended for the ToffeeLeenes.
Also the brownie base recipe I use for the Beckyloo Brownies. I cannot give away the secret of the fudge layer in the Beckyloo's… that is a Houser family secret I am told. But the brownies….
Today I was making a grocery list and realized that my list includes; butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips. All things that 6 months ago I would have said I would never ever have to buy again! And alas I do. This lead me to realize I have quite a back up of pictures of the many things I have baked since then that I have not yet shared on here!
Sorry it has been so long! I have decided that I will blog at least once a week until I am caught up (save the week that my Momma is visiting! I need to soak in all the Mommy and Me time I can, you all will just have to wait… more). It is summer and so the baking has slowed way down so I should be able to catch up with what I have done so far. I say that but then realize it is almost August and my last posting was way back in April… wow.
So they will be all over the place, all out of order, scattered, random, but you will get them all! Promise.
Today I figured I better start with the brownies that reminded me of this! The brownies that took the very last of a 25 lb box of Ghirardelli mini chocolate chips intended for the ToffeeLeenes.
Also the brownie base recipe I use for the Beckyloo Brownies. I cannot give away the secret of the fudge layer in the Beckyloo's… that is a Houser family secret I am told. But the brownies….
4 oz. (8 tbs.) Unsalted Butter
4 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Large Room Temp. Eggs
4 ½ oz. (1 cup) Flour
2 tbs. Cocoa Powder
The recipe I got this from notes here that it is important to not over bake or they will dry out… I have found that you can underbake… a lot actually and people will still love them. But that is a story I will note at the end.
Pre heat oven to 350. Butter and flour 8 inch square pan.
Carefully melt butter and chocolate in small sauce pan. Double boiler if you have one. I don’t so I just watch carefully and stir constantly. When completely melted, remove from heat and cool slightly.
Mix in sugar, salt and vanilla.
Mix in eggs one at a time, blending well after each.
Add flour and cocoa, beat until incorporated and smooth.
Pour into prepared pan and and bake until top is uniformly colored and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out almost clean with a few gooey crumblys sticking to it.
This will supposedly take 35-45 minutes… but my oven is psycho so I don’t really know.
But that is if you just want to make plan ol brownies… which are great, I love me some simple brownies… but I love making them extra special even more…
This time it was a cream cheese topping.
1 Package Cream Cheese softened
5 tbs. Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
2 tbs. Flour
2 Eggs
¾ tsp. Vanilla
Combine cheese, butter and sugar. Mix in remaining ingredients.
Now I was told this would crate a thick mixture you then glob on top of the brownie batter, then run a knife around in it to make a fun marbly swirly look…. The cheese mixture was actually pretty runny and there was enough of it to cover the entire top of the brownies, making a whole cheesey layer rather than spots. Which is fine and turned out really good… just wanted to give you a picture of what to really expect… that I did not have.
So, I poured that over the top of the brownie batter and baked… and baked and baked and I couldn’t get a toothpick to come out looking dry in the least and the edges were getting a little too dark for my liking… not to mention that I had to leave to go watch the hub play softball…. I think this has something to do with the fact that I made a double batch and used a 9 x 13 pan… and didn’t change the temp. You will have to play with this if you do it. Anyways, I pulled them out. That night I went to cut them and had bars of raw brownie batter… so I put them back together… back into the pan and back into the oven… twice baked brownies! You can do it with potatoes right? Why not?
I covered the top with foil so the cream cheese layer that was already done baking wouldn’t burn and threw them back in. For almost 20 more minutes! They were still very gooey… but not like straight batter at least. Just very very rich. And I learned that baking brownies twice gives them a very definite crustlike layer… I thought this was weird, others seemed to love it. So there you go. Another point for experimental baking!
