How easy is it to make brownies out of a box, fudgey or cakey, however they are described on the box? Easy. Special? Not really, but tasty, why of course! Over time, there are a few things I’ve vowed to myself in the kitchen. Lately, I try not to use vegetable oil or canola oil while cooking. Some how making muffins and pouring a cup of liquid, slippery oil, stored at room temperature with a shelf life of forever into my developing batter just doesn’t make me want to dig in no matter how delicious the kitchen smells when the baked goods are done. So you’ll probably notice that my recipes posted here do not typically call for any oil, instead I usually substitute melted butter or margarine. Anyway, a tangent!
The other practice I try to stay away from is buying mixes to make desserts. The idea that something I make could only be made by me (or by you, in fact!) and is not commercially available in any ol' grocery store is special. Plus, I like tweaking things to my tastes and knowing what goes into my treats. Which brings us to the point, what do I do when I want to make something that mixes are readily available for, and ultimately produce a delicious, reproducible, and easy treat? I certainly don’t want to belabor something and make a home made recipe take forever with iffy results when I know I could spend $3.69 plus 45 minutes of my time to make something that is pretty likely to be edible and yield praise from family members or coworkers. Brownies are one of those desserts for me. Seemingly not difficult, but once I step outside the (proverbial) brownie box, my from-scratch baking experience yields crusty squares that stick to the pan or something that is plain and simply NOT awesome – not exactly what I had bargained for. So I set out to craft a decadent and fudgey brownie that has character and is worth keeping the ingredients in your house to make, is easy to personalize, and doesn’t take a lot of time to make. I hope you like the results as much as I do!
p.s. Brownies are an awesome dessert because they REALLY are easy! No fancy kitchen equipment here, only a bowl and a spoon. You want to just mix the ingredients until they are incorporated and are lumpy; beating until smooth is not necessary.
Chocolate brownie base:
1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup -3/4 cup chocolate chips
Cheesecake topping:
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
Melt the cup of butter in a microwave safe large bowl. Add sugar and mix with a big spoon. Add the eggs and and vanilla extract and mix to combine. In a smaller bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add the mixed, dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg, mixing until incorporated - it's ok if a few lumps remain. Add a few more lumps :) by pouring in the chocolate chips and stirring until incorporated. Anywhere from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of chocolate chips is fine, so whatever you prefer. Grease a large 9x13 pan with butter and pour in the batter, smooth the top. At this point, if you want to up the fancy-factor, you can add the cheesecake topping. If you are a chocolate purist, then feel free to bake as they are, just perhaps for a few minutes less since they won't be as thick.
If you don't mind diluting your chocolate with some sweet and creamy cream cheese, then pull out a mixer (a hand mixer does a great job for this) and cube your cream cheese in a medium sized bowl, add the egg and the sugar, and mix on med-high speed until the mixture is homogenous, scraping the bowl as necessary. Spoon the cream cheese mixture over the brownie batter, and swirl the cream cheese in with a sharp knife.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes. If you're after a fudgey brownie, then closer to 30 minutes, and if you're a cakey brownie lover, then around 35 minutes. Try using the toothpick test for a truly cakey brownie - a clean toothpick inserted into the center of the baking pan that comes out clean will yield a cakey brownie... but don't overdo it, 35-37 minutes should be long enough depending on your oven!
Other ways to personalize this recipe:
Instead of opting for cheesecake, try swirling some raspberry jam on the top of the brownie batter prior to cooking. You can also go with the real deal by boiling raspberries (approximately 1 cup) in a small pot, letting cool a little, and then spooning over the dough and swirling. This works well with raspberries as opposed to other fruits, because raspberries have a lot of pectin in them, which is a natural thickener, preventing the fruit from oozing juice all over the top of your tasty, praise-worthy brownies. :)
Enjoy!
