brownie mix

I obviously found a bunch of mixes on pinterest and have been trying them out.  This one is for brownies and came from heart, hands, home website.  There are tons of mixes on this site.  I want to try more of them, but so far I've only tried the brownies.  Again, I used coconut oil when baking them (it isn't in the mix.)  It made my mix kind of thick and I worried about getting a good brownie texture, but they baked up nicely and were plenty tasty.
I can't say these are healthy, and I didn't use a healthier sugar this time, but next time I may try it with sucanant, and/or coconut sugar.

Ingredients

• 8 cups sugar
• 6 cups unbleached flour
• 2 cups cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. Mix everything together in a large container or zip top bag.  Label.

To make Brownies, mix together

• 2 1/4 cup brownie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil (I used coconut, melted - can use butter, or olive as well - original called for canola but I don't use that.  It was tasty with coconut)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional) - dried cherries would be tasty too.

Bake in a greased 8 inch square pan at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

You can also apparently make Texas sheet cake with this recipe by mixing 

• 4 cups brownie mix
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

The directions say to boil the water, oil and sour cream, then mix it with the brownie mix and add the remaining ingredients.  Bake on a greased jelly roll pan at 375 for 20-25 minutes.  Frost with the following:

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

It says to frost while still hot.  

I have not made this, but living in Texas, this is actually brought to many an event, so I may actually try it sometime.  It isn't however my favorite cake to eat.  I prefer brownies.  :)

cherry pecan brownies

I've been eyeballing these in the Rodale whole foods cookbook I have checked out of the library for more than a couple of weeks now.  I finally made them this evening making substitutions as needed /desired.  They like to claim the the book that these are made healthier by using flax seed instead of 2 eggs, but they still use 2 more eggs.  The book also used plain old white sugar and brown sugar.  I swapped the plain old white with some healthier alternatives.  I also fiddled with the chocolate - mostly because I didn't have any bittersweet chocolate, but I did have some dark chocolate chips.  The brownies turned out wonderful.  I definitely don't want to change anything and ruin them.  Super moist and chewy but not doughy.  To me the perfect  brownie texture.  Add to that lots of nice crunch from the pecans and chewy bits of cherries.  WOW.  I had to give some to the neighbors to keep myself from eating them for lunch today.  :)  I must get back off sugar.  :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 10 oz. dark chocolate chips.  (Mine were a 63% cacao all natural variety)
• 2 heaping Tablespoons flaxseed (I used light)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar - I used a combination of sucanat (about 2/3 cup) and coconut palm sugar (the remaining 1/3 cup or so.
• 1 cup brown sugar (I just gave up and used brown sugar for this.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 9 X 13 pan with 2 sheets of foil crisscross.  Oil the foil.
2. In a small ovenproof bowl (I used a very large mug) combine the butter, oil and chocolate.  Place in the oven while it preheats and let the butter and chocolate melt.  (I loved this idea - no using the microwave, just the oven that is already on anyway.  Takes about 10 minutes.  I took it out and whisked/stirred it to get the last bit of butter to melt.)
3. Grind the flaxseeds in a coffee grinder (or food processor or blender.  I just prefer the coffee grinder.)  Mix with water and let set. (now would be a good time to chop nuts and cherries -letting the flax gel, and the chocolate melt.)
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, vanilla, salt, and flaxseed.   Stir in the chocolate mixture.  Stir in the flour.  Fold in the nuts and cherries.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 45 minutes or until the toothpick poked into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  (45 minutes was perfect for me.  The toothpick didn't have any crumbs, and the top didn't look super crackly or anything but it didn't look under done.  Top felt done with my finger, and I figured no crumbs was a good sign but worried that they were overdone.  They weren't - they were perfect.)
6. Cool in pan before cutting into squares. (book says 32.  I made 24 (4 X 6) and they seemed small enough.  Lets just say Mr. 15 year old cut his own on the second half and didn't follow my scoring at the edge and took a brownie twice as big for lunch today.  :)  I'm sure he thinks he took a small piece.  :)

chocolate molten lava cake

This is another cake recipe I found at everydayfoodstorage.net.  This time I was looking for a treat to serve to choir after choir practice. I headed to everydayfoodstorage because I knew she was doing a cake month and found this.  I was a bit skeptical to try this, plus I wanted to replace the bean puree with bean flour and I didn't want it to go wrong and be inedible.  So rather than not experiment, I had my son make some chocolate chip cookies as backup.  The cookies weren't needed.  The cake was delicious.  It has a lot of sugar in it which I am actually really trying to reduce right now, but at least it had no oil, and used some wheat flour and bean flour.  It was also super easy to mix together.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 Tablespoons cocoa powder, divided
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup +2 Tablespoons milk (I used 1 %)
• 2 Tablespoons black bean flour (Could use any bean flour)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cups hot water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, baking powder, bean flour, and salt.  Stir in milk and vanilla until smooth.
3. Spread in an ungreased 9 X 9 inch baking pan.  In another bowl, combine brown sugar and remaining cocoa.  Sprinkle over batter.  Pour hot water over all of it.  Do not stir.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Serve

truffles, truffles, truffles?

Blogging goal for today -blog about Christmas.  Yea!  For the food blog that means I get to post all of the goodies we made to put on goodie plates this year.  They need blogging before I forget all of the tips I had.  Many of them came from came from the little 50 Edible Gifts insert in my Food Network magazine.  They came with the simplest of instructions - the entire recipe usually consisting of 2 lines.  Hint...  They needed more than that.  Here are the recipes with some helpful hints.  Going to start with the truffles.  The first 2 are actually truffles, the third is a ball because it is crunchy.  All 3 are good.  I'd give the chocolate truffles a 5, coconut almond 3.5-4, and hazelnut crunch 4.5 (only because they were a pain to make - helpful hints I've added ought to make them more like a 5 star next time.)

balls left to right are chocolate-hazelnut crunch,
coconut-almond truffle, and chocolate truffles.

Chocolate truffles

Ingredients

• 1 cup cream
• 1/2 stick butter (4 Tablespoons)
• 1 pound finely chopped chocolate.  (I used semisweet.  I think I used 8 oz of box and 8 oz of chocolate chips to tell the truth.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (optional)
• (original recipe called for these to be rolled in crushed peppermint candies, chopped nuts or cocoa powder - I used the cocoa powder/powdered sugar mix above, but any of these would be good.)

Directions

1. Bring cream and butter to a boil in a saucepan.  Place chocolate in a boil and pour hot cream mixture over chocolate.  Stir until melted.  Add vanilla and stir until smooth.
2. Refrigerated until firm.
3. Mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder on a plate.  Scoop chilled truffle mixture with a spoon (or handy cookie dough scoop) and roll into balls.  Roll the balls in the cocoa/sugar mixture.  Chill.

Coconut-Almond truffles

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut (original called for unsweetened, and I think that nice fine shred would have worked better than the sweet stuff, but I used what I had in my pantry.  It worked, but I think the other would be better.)
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• additional coconut for rolling

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together until they form a dough.  Chill until firm.  (original recipe doesn't do this, and maybe if you have some stiffer almond butter than mine, you won't find it necessary, but I did.)
2. When firm, roll into balls, then roll in shredded coconut.  Chill

Chocolate-Hazelnut Crunch Balls

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts.  (I just toasted mine in a pan on the stovetop.)
• 1 cut crisp rice cereal
• 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (Nutella)
• powdered sugar for rolling

Directions

1. These need the most help when it comes to directions - according to the book you just mix the stuff together and roll into balls, and roll in the sugar.  I've got news for you, they don't stick together like that.  Even once refrigerated they don't stick together well like that, so here is what I learned.
1. Mix ingredients together.
2. Refrigerate until a bit more firm (still won't be very firm)
3. Make something that resembles a ball, but don't try too hard ....yet anyway.  
4. Toss that ball-like blob in the plate of powdered sugar to give it a good dusting.  
5. Then, when it isn't going to stick to you like crazy, shape it into a nice ball.
6. Chill.

Following my directions, these actually became easy to make.  Although I have to tell you the first 2/3 of the batch drove me absolutely batty.  When super cool, they would sort of stick, but not really.  Tossing them in the powdered sugar before trying to form them all the way was totally the key.  I suppose I could have just added powdered sugar to the mix, but I was worried about them being too sweet. This way they were wonderful.

Black bean brownies

Here are some black bean brownies from $5 mom's cookbook. The recipe is also on her website.  My second batch are currently in the oven. I did some things different this time which I will include in the instructions. Good changes. The first time I used 1 cup sugar, 1 cup splenda. This time I used 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup agave. I was wanting to add a bit more moisture because I thought they were a bit dry before. I may try subbing out some sugar for Truvia next time or something. I'll finish writing this up after this batch comes out. I may even get a better pictures. :)

This batch definitely came out better.  Not so dry.  I did a couple of things different.  I added the milk to the beans in the blender and pureed together.  That helped the blender not to stick and I got a much better smoothie consistency.  I also used mini chocolate chips and not as many of them.  I still didn't get the type of crisp top she has in her picture - probably the subbing of sugars??  Check out her page - she has lots of pictures.  I'll re-type it with my adaptations - I'm going to write down the sugar/agave method since it gave me a  better consistency brownie.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked black beans (I just used 2 15 oz. cans rinsed and drained.)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk (I used fat free)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup agave
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Coat a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray.  
2. In a blender, puree black beans with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup milk until nice and smooth.  (I actually used my bosch last night and had bread kneading on the mixer side so it ran for 4 minutes - it was nice and smooth.)
3. Pour puree into a mixing bowl.  Add sugar, agave and vanilla and mix well.  
4. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix.  Stir in coconut and chocolate chips.
5. Pour into the 9 X 13 pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (The first time I made these -without agave - 1 cup sugar and 1 cup splenda - they were done and a bit dry in 45 minutes.  Last night I left them in the full 55, and the toothpick still looked moist, but I think it was just chocolate chips because the brownies were done. - I probably could have taken them out after 50.  Either way, they aren't as dry as last time.)

German chocolate bars

So, I love pretty much anything chocolate, and if you throw in coconut, pecans and caramel all the better, so this really caught my eye when I saw it in my Simple and Delicious magazine.  When I read that it also had crushed pretzels I was even more curious to try it.  I finally got the chance today because I was bringing treats to our choir potluck.  I made lemon bars (used that recipe just all lemon) which I know are good, and tried a new one. While they were good, they were over the top sweet for me.  I find that a lot when I use butterscotch chips though.  Somehow I manage to always forget that about butterscotch chips and try it again.  I like them in cookies, but I've made fudge with them, and not cared for it.  This recipe was super sweet, but the thing that threw it over the edge for me was the butterscotch chips.  It may be a lot better without it.  However, I think I'd rather just make Hello Dolly's (speaking of  which I'm pretty sure I don't have a recipe for those posted on the blog.
For the recipe go here.  I didn't change anything except for adding a couple of Tablespoons of coconut just because that was all that was left in the bag.  Nothing else different.
Oops, I apparently didn't take any pictures of this either.

peanut butter fudge

This was hungry girl fudge.  I found it to be a bit rubbery.  The pieces in the middle with more peanut butter were yummier than the sides, but I may have overcooked it a bit.  It was super simple to make, and a healthier alternative than the box mix of brownies I guess, but I probably won't make them again.  That doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy eating them.  Chocolate is always good right.

Ingredients

• 1 18.3 oz. box brownie mix
• 1 can pumpkin (recipe said 2 cups, and 1 can was under, but I wasn't opening another can for less than 1/2 a cup.)
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter.

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350.  Mix brownie mix and pumpkin.  Pour in 9X9 pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Put peanut butter on top of batter and swirl into batter with a knife.   Bake for 35 minutes.   
2. Remove from oven.  Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours. (We only let them stay in to fridge for 1 hour and they were still hot.)

cocoa meringues with berries

I tried this for dessert today.  I have never made meringues before.  I think I made them a little flat, and cooked them a tiny bit too long, but they were still yummy.  I quadrupled the recipe because I had 4 egg whites left over from German's chocolate cake.  The larger batch  made it a bit harder for me to portion than a smaller batch, especially for the first time I had made this.   I also should have had my bittersweet chocolate chopped before I began, but I didn't.  Even so, they were light and airy and had a nice chocolate flavor.  The berries were good too.  They are very time consuming.  I'll write how I made them with the original amounts in parenthesis.  I actually didn't quadruple the berry sauce (yet anyway) because they got done so late with the 2 hours to cook that they kids were in bed.  I have 6 sitting here waiting to be eaten this evening.  But I will write the berry sauce quadrupled as well.
I definitely want to try these again to see if I can proportion and shape them a little better.  Plus they are chocolate and I love chocolate.

Prep time - 20 minutes
Baking time 50-60 minutes + 1 hour cool in oven


Ingredients

• 4 egg whites (1)
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (1/8 teaspoon)
• dash salt
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided (3 Tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa (1 Tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (1/4 teaspoon)
• 3 oz. finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (2 Tablespoons - I found that a 1 oz. square was about 3 Tablespoons.  It ended up 9 Tablespoons, but I threw it in anyway.)

Berry Sauce Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar (2 Tablespoons)
• 4 teaspoons corn starch (1 teaspoon)
• 1/2 cup orange juice (2 Tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup water (1 Tablespoon)
• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed (1/2 cup) I actually only partially thawed these
• 2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed (1/2 cup) I didn't thaw these at all (see below)

Directions

Place egg white in a small bowl (I just put it in the mixer I was going to make this in)  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Add cream of tartar and salt.  Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in 1/2 cup (2 Tablespoons) sugar.  Combine the cocoa and remaining 1/4 cup (1 Tablespoon) sugar;  add to meringue with vanilla.  Beat on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved.  Fold in the chopped chocolate.

Drop 8 (2) mounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Shape into 3 inch cups with the back of a spoon.  Bake at 275 for 50-60 minutes or until set and dry.  Turn off oven; leave meringues in over for 1 hour.

Berry sauce;  In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, orange juice and water.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.  Remove from the heat; stir in berries.  Cool to room temperature.  (I used partially frozen and frozen berries for a single batch and the heat of the sauce defrosted the berries while the frozen berries cooled the sauce.  On a larger batch, you would need to defrost more of the berries though, or keep it warming for a minute while the berries defrost.)  

Spoon into meringues.

German's Chocolate Cake

This is a favorite around our house.  My favorites are this and carrot, but I just had carrot for Mother's day, so for my birthday, German's chocolate won.  This is the recipe from the package of Baker's German's chocolate bar.  DH has tried other recipes on other birthday years, but this remains my favorite, and since I had experimental carrot cake recipe, I wanted the one I knew I loved today.

Cake  Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate
• 1/2 cup  water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp.  baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup  (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4   eggs, separated
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup  buttermilk

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Cover bottoms of 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with wax paper; grease sides of pans. Microwave chocolate and water in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

MIX flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in melted chocolate and the vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition.

BEAT egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently stir into batter. Pour evenly into prepared pans.

BAKE 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Immediately run small metal spatula around cake layers in pans. Cool in pans 15 min.; remove layers from pans to wire racks. Remove and discard wax paper. Cool cake layers completely. Spread Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting between cake layers and onto top of cake.

Frosting Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 can  (12 oz.) evaporated milk
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups  sugar
• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
• 1 pkg.  (7 oz.) BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut (about 2 2/3 cups - I always use more closer to 4 cups.)
• 1-1/2 cups PLANTERS Chopped Pecans

Directions

BEAT egg yolks, milk and vanilla in large saucepan with wire whisk until well blended. Add sugar and butter; cook on medium heat 12 min. or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

ADD coconut and pecans; mix well. Cool to room temperature and of desired spreading consistency.

cup o chocolate-coconut bread pudding

This is another hungry-girl recipe.  This is actually the first one I tried.  I have made myself various variations of this recipe. from trying to make it more chocolaty by adding 2 pouches of hot chocolate, to just making it with 2 eggs and regular hot chocolate for the kids.  I've also left the mini chips and marshmallows off the top and had it for breakfast.  Any way around it you can't really go wrong for 215 calories, 6 grams of fiber and 19 grams of protein.  I'd still like to find a way to have a better chocolate flavor.  For breakfast, this is great, but for dessert I'd like a bit more chocolate flavor.  I'm thinking of trying to make my own hot cocoa type of mix with cocoa powder, splenda, and powdered milk, but I have not had time to play with that.  If I do, I'll be sure to post it.  Right  now, I'd give them a 9/10.  What I want in flavor, they definitely make up for in ease.

Ingredients

• 1 25-calorie packed diet hot cocoa mix (I think mine is 30 cal) (I just used regular for the kids)
• dash salt (I have left this out)
• 1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (I subbed out 2 eggs for the kids, but prefer the egg substitute)
• 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
• 2 slices light white bread (I like wheat white)
• 1 teaspoon mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 10 marshmallows

Directions

Put bread in toaster.  Mix cocoa and salt in a glass.  Add 1/4 cup hot water and stir until cocoa has dissolved.   Add the egg substitute and coconut extract and stir.  Set aside. 
Spray a microwave-safe mug with cooking spray (don't forget this, these stick bad - the only real downside to the recipe.)  Tear bread into pieces and add to mug.  Top with cocoa mixture and mix to make sure all bread is coated.  Top with chips and marshmallows.
Microwave for 2 minutes and 15 seconds or until bread pudding it set.  (These puff up when they cook but shrink right back down as soon as they stop cooking.)

Black Forest Brownie Squares

I can't believe it has been almost a week since I posted anything here. Being without a computer will do that too you. First I was just behind in pictures, now it's the whole blog. Luckily for my catching up, I've not cooked as much as usual due to the fact that I have also been without a dishwasher for 3 weeks. Happily, we got the new one installed yesterday, so I can get back to my normal amount of cooking now that my amount of clean up time will go down dramatically.
I made these Brownies last Sunday for choir practice. They were pretty simple, and yummy. They are from the Nestle best-loved cookie book. I love that book. I used to have it in book and magazine form, but I gave the magazine away since I had the book. I really haven't been disappointed by any of the recipes in there. (And I have found disappointing cookie, bar, and brownie recipes elsewhere.)

Ingredients

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups cool whip, thawed
• 2 cups (21 oz can) cherry pie filling

Directions

1. Melt 1 cup chips and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over lowest possible heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; stir in eggs. Gradually stir in flour, granulated sugar, vanilla and baking soda. Stir in remaining chips. Spread into greaste 9X13 pan.
2. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (took mine more like 35) or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Spread with cool whip. Top with pie filling. Cut into squares.

I dished the topping on individual brownies. 1 can didn't last for the entire pan. I thought about cutting up some strawberries, tossing them with a little sugar and putting them on the top the next day, but we just ended up eating them with no topping. They were still a tasty brownie. 9 out of 10

Cream cheese mint brownies

I love to bake candy and goodies for Christmas. I rarely make the same thing from year to year although I think I have made these before and the Pillsbury magazine they are from is only 2 years old. They sure are tasty, and I had no problems with the recipe.



Ingredients

• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon mint extract
• 4 drops green food color
• 1 cup butter
• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour

Frosting

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons corn syrup
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate cunt into pieces
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9 X13 inch pan. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. Add egg, mint extract and food color; mix well. Set aside.
2. In a 3 to 4 quart saucepan, melt 1 cup butter and 4 oz chocolate over very low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add eggs q at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour; mix well. Spread in pan. Carefully spoon cheese filling over brownie mixture. (I poured it carefully in a ribbon to try and cover the brownie.) Gently cut through layers with knife to marble.
3. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Cool completely.
4. In heavy saucepan, heat 2 Tablespoons butter, corn syrup and water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat. Add 2 oz chocolate; stir until melted.
5. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Frost cooled brownies. Cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Cover and refrigerate any remaining brownies. (I thought the frosting seemed like it wasn't stuck to the brownie, but it was fine.

chocolate cream cheese brownies

OK, so I promised my piano students a treat if they met their practice goal each week of the month, and the person who had the most practice minutes could get double treat - trying to motivate them to practice without it being totally their mom's job. I was hoping it would work well since I have 3 boys 10-11 years old. Working on a bit of healthy competition linked to their stomachs. Anyway, it didn't work as well as I hoped, but it did leave me without brownies on the day of lessons so I grabbed the old Betty crocker cookbook and picked pretty much the first brownie recipe. Wow, were they good. I think I ended up eating half of them. (OK, probably not really since all of my boys got one, and my students got one, plus one person got 2, but still, I had too many. Then I had to run 6 miles today.) Good thing I'm only making treats once a month for lessons.

Ingredients

• 1 6-ounce package (1 cup) semisweet chocolate pieces
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (originally walnuts, but I had pecans.)
• 1 3 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
• 1 beaten egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease and lightly flour an 8X8X2 inch baking pan. Melt chocolate and butter; cool. Stir together flour, baking powder, adn 1/4 teaspoon salt. In a mixer bowl beat 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla; gradually add 3/4 cup of the sugar. Continue beating eggs till thick and lemon colored. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture; beat till well combined. Stir in chocolate mixture; stir in nuts. Beat cheese and remaining 1/4 cup sugar till fluffy. Stir in remaining egg and 1/2 teaspoon valnilla. Spread half of the chocolate mixtuer in pan. Pour cheese mixture over; top with remaining chocolate mixture. Swirl layers to marble if desired. Bake 45 minutes. Cool. Cut into bars (makes 16)

This chocolate mixture was quite thick. Don't know if I should have used other chocolate (I just used chips) but it made for a thick mix. It was kind of hard to spread, but doable on the bottom of the pan. The cheese mix was really runny, so spreading the chocolate on top of that was pretty messy. It needed to be swirled to hide the mess. I wondered about it and hoped they would turn out. They did. Wonderful brownies.