Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

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!

Chocolate Sherry Cream Bar Cookies

Whew! two posts in one day! In addition to trying the chai tea cookies for the first time yesterday, I was inspired to try another recipe also listed in the Better Homes and Gardens Special Publications: Ultimate Cookies. The recipe, titled Chocolate-and-sherry cream bars (NOTE: originally formatted for a 15x10 baking dish, all references below are for the halved recipe that would suit the 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish size) really had my attention with its mouth-watering, centerpiece-esque photo, but similar to the chai tea cookies, this recipe ended up getting a makeover. I'll post my equally as mouth watering recipe below, but please know that the original exists out there for reference. I found the chocolate bottom a success, so I simply scaled down the original recipe for the fudgy bottom layer and conjured up a completely different recipe for the sherry cream layer.

Chocolate Sherry Cream Bar Cookies (suitable for 8X8 or 9X9 square baking pan)
Chocolate Bar
1/2 cup butter
2 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 (the prep for this recipe goes really quickly! I'm a fan!) In a double boiler over low or medium heat, heat the chocolate and butter, stirring to aid in even melting. Once melted, remove from heat, and mix in the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until combined. Mix in the flour, and pour into a greased baking pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

Sherry Cream (to cover an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish)
At this point, this was one of those recipes that it wasn't until everything was all combined that I realized the recipe as written would never work and it needed to be made over. The original recipe, scaled down for a 9x9 dish, called for 2 cups of powdered sugar, a 1/8 cup sherry, and 1/8 cup half and half or light cream, whipped up, would never reach the fluffy, mousse-like texture that I so desperately craved, but instead had the consistency more of a gooey royal icing. I didn't feel comfortable risking the success of the fudgy bottom layer by topping it with this, so I scrapped it in favor of my own sherry cream recipe, which follows:

Approximately 1 cup Heavy Cream for whipping
a pinch cream of tartar
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream sherry

In the large bowl of a stand mixer (this can also be done with a hand mixer or by hand) fitted with the whisk, add the heavy cream and cream of tartar and whisk on high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Just after the soft peaks form, add 3 tablespoons powdered sugar and about half of the sherry, and whisk until incorporated. At this point, dig in - does it taste enough like sherry to suit you? Is it sweet enough? If the answer to either of these questions is no, then add more powdered sugar and/or sherry and whip again. Taste periodically and add more of either if necessary - I added a total of 4 tablespoons powdered sugar and a little less than 1/4 cup sherry, but a little extra of either is fine. Once you are pleased with the flavor, whisk the cream mixture until it is thickened; the peaks should be sturdy.

Scoop the above sherry cream mixture onto the chocolate bottom layer, smooth the top and drizzle melted chocolate over the top (alternatively, as the original recipe states, scaled down for a 9x9 dish, melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon butter, add 2 tsp sherry, and then drizzle over the top... excellent too!). Place completed dessert in the refrigerator for at least an hour to firm up, before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

Modifications:
This recipe could also be easily modified to suit a gluten free diet. Try using a flourless chocolate cake recipe for the bottom layer!

Decadent Chocolate Cake

In preparation for my first paid birthday cake endeavor, I made the chocolate and teal fondants a few days ago (previous post, see the finished cake above!), and today I baked the cakes, to assemble and decorate for Saturday. Developing this chocolate cake recipe has been a labor of love, and I'm excited to share it with you!

This recipe originally began as a chocolate mocha cake, but as coffee isn't for everyone, it has since been adapted into a 100% chocolate cake. Decadent, delicious, dark chocolate cake. Yum.

Let me start by telling you a little about this delicious chocolate cake. When I bake, I like to incorporate slightly unusual, less standard ingredients to produce a more unusual flavor. For example, this cake is made from both unsweetened cocoa powder, but also hot chocolate mix (try varying the flavor of hot chocolate or use instant coffee beverage flavor in as well!). By replacing some of the cocoa powder with hot chocolate mix, the chocolate note is lightened (not gone! Just less acidic and bitter), creating a warm flavor that allows for the permeation of other flavors, such as vanilla (which I love!). In combination with the other ingredients, this cake is a moist chocolate cake that is not overly sweet and still has depth of flavor beyond that of chocolate – the one cake that even those who prefer white cake will enjoy!

Decadent Chocolate Cake:

½ Cup Butter Flavored Crisco
2 cups Sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour (I use all purpose)
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
approximately 1 tblsp vanilla (I use Penzy’s double strength vanilla)
1 cup half and half (I prefer half and half, but milk can substitute)
1 cup hot chocolate made with Water (or skim/1% milk)
half of a chocolate bar (dark chocolate, not baking chocolate)
½ cup (a little more than ½ cup) unsweetened cocoa
¼ cup (a little less than ¼ cup) hot chocolate mix (ratio of unsweetened cocoa to hot chocolate mix can be varied to suit taste)

In a large bowl, cream together Crisco and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. In a separate smaller bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and powder until mixed. To creamed Crisco/sugar/eggs, add dry ingredients and liquids, and mix well. Coat pans with cooking spray and then flour, add batter, and bake at 350 on top oven rack for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. This recipe will yield two 10 inch baking rounds suitable for creating a layered cake.

Now comes the fun part! Decorating the cakes! Of course, chocolate makes everything easy! As you know, I am a repeat user of Peggy Weaver’s Fondant (see http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm) - it yields very easy to work with, superior tasting, and significantly cheaper (but more time consuming!) fondant than what is commercially available. As described in the last post, for this cake, I used the above cake recipe and made two 10 inch rounds, and two 8 inch rounds. The two 8 and 10 inch rounds were then filled and crumb coated with chocolate buttercream frosting. The bottom 10 inch rounds were then covered with chocolate fondant and the top 8 inch rounds were covered with teal fondant and matching decorations finished the look. Happy Birthday Caroline!

Birthday Cake Surprise: Chocolate Fondant

Today is a landmark day for me! In addition to starting this blog, just a few days ago I received my much anticipated Christmas present from my parents – a professional kitchenaid mixer – my new baking companion. Up until this point, my love of baking has been nurtured by many a hand-kneading of dough, hand mixing up batter, and then in the more recent years the addition of the handheld mixer (a gift from my grandmother, during college). I actually love using the hand mixer – there are some things that just come together so nicely, or using the hand mixer is just so practical for other things, such as making deviled eggs, or whipping up royal icing… and maybe my hand mixer has gotten so much use that I am even familiar and fond of the smell of the little motor working so hard to help me make something tasty and memorable! But, there is another reason why today is a landmark day: after baking and decorating fondant covered cakes for special occasions for over a year for friends, I have secured my first paying customer! ☺ A co-worker of mine has asked me to bake a cake for his daughter’s 14th birthday. I was told her favorite color is turquoise, and the cake should be chocolate, and the rest was left to me. Since I enjoy baking layered cakes, I decided to go with the 10 inch rounds and the 8 inch rounds, stacked, with the bottom layer decorated in teal fondant, and the top in chocolate fondant (I had recently re-discovered my love for chocolate fondant, see the recipe below!). Since I am still learning the artistry that is cake making, I often try to finish the cake with ribbon details to hide blemishes or seams – something I’d totally recommend to anyone who wants to try fondant! (I've included a picture from a past cake with the chocolate fondant, and ribbon, for an example.) For a first time fondant user, I’d start with regular fondant, but chocolate is also very simple. Again, this recipe is adapted from Peggy Weaver’s website
http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm.

Chocolate fondant:
16 ounces white mini marshmallows
2-5 tablespoons warm water (I usually start with two)
2 pound bag powdered sugar, minus 2 or 3 cups (to be added in stages)
1-2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
Crisco, open and ready for dipping!

As Peggy suggests, once you’ve got your marshamallows in the microwave, coat your hands (even around nails and in between fingers) with plain Crisco (make sure it is not butter flavored or just butter, as this will change the color of your fondant to a strange pale yellow, and if you wish to dye it with food coloring (gels or paste are best), it will also augment the color. Also coat your working surface with Crisco. Once the marshmallows are melted (see Peggy’s website for details) begin to stir in the powdered sugar. I’d start with a few cups of powdered sugar, and then add 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. When the mixing becomes difficult, turn out your marshmallowy-sugary blob onto your worksurface and start kneading. Peggy makes it sound easier than it is, but just keep going! Once you’ve kneaded in the 1 cup of cocoa powder, evaluate it: does it look dark enough to suit my needs? Does it taste enough like chocolate to suit my needs? It the answer is no to either of these questions, then add another ¼ cup or ½ cup of cocoa. Any time the dough feels sticky, add more powdered sugar (or cocoa!) and continue with the kneading process. Keep going until it is a smooth, elastic ball. I also find this recipe easier to make and handle during the kneading process if it is halved, and depending on your baking needs, you might wish to do this too. Also, if the fondant becomes too hard to work with, or you made regular white fondant and then wish to dye it, then pop it in the microwave for a very short (30 sec or less) period of time to soften it up. Fondant does also keep well for extended periods of time, so I find it easy to make the fondant a day or two in advance so I have it ready to go when I need it, like this time! Sometimes fondant can also change color as it dries, so it is nice to have a few days to evaluate if the final color (leave a tiny amount the size of a dime or so out at room temperature overnight) does change after some time has passed.