Cream Cheese Brownies

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, things have been a little crazy since it’s almost finals time and I’ve been traveling a bit.  But hopefully I’ll be better about updates, especially once finals are over!

Every year my family goes to my grandparents’ house in Connecticut and we spend the day with my Great Aunt and her friend.  Since I usually go there before Sunday I make it my goal to bake something that I’ve never made before, and this year it was cream cheese brownies.  

I’ve been wanting to make cream cheese brownies ever since I saw the Bobby Flay Throwdown about brownies.  The one where the people he challenge make goat cheese brownies… yeah, I’ll be making those eventually.  Anyway, all of the recipes that I looked up weren’t really what I was looking for, so when I found a plain brownie recipe on epicurious that looked good I decided to change it up a bit and give it a shot.

If you love chocolate this is the brownie for you, they’re dense but still creamy and rich.  And the cream cheese mixture takes the brownie to a completely different level.  As someone that can’t eat a lot of chocolate the cream cheese adds a creamy and savory aspect to the brownie that, in my opinion, makes it even more delicious. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Brownies:

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cold large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

For the Cream Cheese Swirl:

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and lining a 8x8 inch baking dish with tin foil or parchment paper.  After lining the pan grease it and set aside. 

Beat the cream cheese and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy, an electric mixer would probably be best for this, but I had to improvise.  Slowly add in the sugar and the egg separately.  Add in the tablespoon of flour and continue to mix it for another minute or so.  Place bowl aside for when the brownies are done. 

Put the cocoa powder, butter, sugar and salt into a heat proof bowl and place over a sauce pan of simmering water.  Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the simmering water.  This might seem like a weird way to melt the butter, but it works and within about 10 minutes the butter melts and the cocoa, butter, sugar and salt combine into a chocolaty paste. 

Take the bowl off of the double boiler and add in the vanilla.  Next add in the eggs one at a time, making sure that they’re completely mixed in before adding the next one. 

Then, add the flour and mix until there are no lumps in the batter.  Continue to mix for another minute (or 40 strokes as the recipe calls for). 

Pour into the greased baking sheet and pour the cream cheese mix onto the brownies and swirl into the mix.  Don’t over-mix the batter and the swirl or else you won’t be able to see it. 

Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean when inserted in.  Let the brownies cool and then cut into 16 squares. 

  

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Sometimes I feel like I’m the luckiest girl in the world.  I’ve got such an amazing family and it’s nice to know that they’re always supporting me no matter what happens.  So I just wanted to take a few seconds to say thank you to them for being so wonderful and understanding.  You’re all the best and I love you.

I also need to thank everyone that’s been reading my blog over the last few months.  I know it’s still very small, but I really appreciate that you take the time out of your day to check up on my blog and maybe send it around to a few friends.  If I could I’d bake you all thank you treats, but since I can’t I’ll bake them for myself and give you all of the recipes.  That’ll come over the next few weeks… expect comfort food and lots of it.

Anyway, back to what this blog is about, food.  I’ve got a really simple recipe for you all today: homemade tortilla chips.  These are completely different than your typical store bought tortilla chip like Tostitos, they’re not as salty and they’re much smaller, but they’re worth a shot. 

What you’ll need:

1 package of either corn or flour tortillas (should contain about 8 tortillas)

2 tablespoons of oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  With a pastry brush, lightly coat one side of the tortilla and start to stack them with the oiled side up. 

When you have all of the tortillas stacked cut them in half, then into quarters and finally into eighths.

Lightly grease a baking sheet and place the cut up tortilla greased side down.  Bake them for about ten minutes, or until they have turned golden-brown.  Let cool and enjoy with your typical dip of choice!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  With a pastry brush, lightly coat one side of the tortilla and start to stack them with the oiled side up.  When you have all of the tortillas stacked cut them in half, then into quarters and finally into eighths. Lightly grease a baking sheet and place the cut up tortilla greased side down.  Bake them for about ten minutes, or until they have turned golden-brown.  Let cool and enjoy with your typical dip of choice

Honey Corn Muffins

I’m a terrible multi-tasker.  No really. An absolutely god awful, spastic and uncoordinated multi-tasker. 

I can’t talk on the phone while being around other people. I can’t run and chew gum at the same time (really). I can’t read and listen to the music at the same time unless someone else is picking what music is playing.

But even though my ability to multi-task is terrible my memory is amazing.  I’m being completely honest; I get made fun of by my sister Courtney because I remember every little detail, even the ones that no one else ever remembers.  Luckily, this means that when I make a promise I’m usually good at following through with them… even if it takes a month and a half. This is exactly what happened with these corn muffins; here’s the story:

A month and a half ago I was interviewing some students with one of the area coordinators (people in charge of RAs) at Wheaton.  When lunch time came around he went down to the café only to find out that there weren’t any corn muffins.  After realizing that his stomach’s dreams had been crushed he returned to the office all forlorn and upset.  To make him feel better I told him I’d make him some corn muffins to make up for the day that they didn’t have any at the café.  It’s been while but we both still remember that I promised him corn muffins.  Today was the day that I finally got around to making them.

I found the recipe on FoodNetwork.com, it’s from Pat and Gina Neeley, two Memphis resturaunt owners, so you know it’s going to be good.  The muffins are light and fluffy, but they’re very flavorful, but not overpowering, and what's even better is that all of the ingredients can be found in any grocery store.  Considering how simple the recipe is and how delicious the muffins are, it’s worth it.  You should definitely give them a shot, even if you have no experience in the kitchen. Anyone can make these muffins, and I really mean anyone.  

Here’s what you’ll need – Recipe can be found here:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

½ stick butter, melted

¼ cup honey

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a 12-muffin tin with muffin cups and place aside.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, eggs, butter and honey so that they’re combined.  Be careful when adding the hot butter to the eggs, you don’t want the butter to cook the eggs. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together until they’re incorporated.  The mixture will be fluffy and somewhat thick; this is a perfect consistency to spoon out into the cupcake tins.  Spread the batter out evenly between the tins and place in the 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. 

You’ll know the muffins are done when they’re golden-brown around the edges. 

Funfetti Cupcakes

I come from a big family.  I’m the youngest of five, and I love every one of my brothers and sisters.  My parents and grandparents are all amazing people too.  And my aunts, uncles and cousins, I can’t forget about them either.  I know a lot of people that dread family events, but I’m lucky; be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or Birthday Parties I’m always excited to see my family.  Sure within three hours we might be ready to run away from each other screaming, but that’s part of the fun of family. 

One of my brothers was born with a dietary issue where his body isn’t able to process a specific amino acid that’s found in every protein.  Because of this he’s spent most of his life living off of carbs and vegetables… but mostly carbs.  Every year for his birthday (or at least it seemed like it was every year) he’d always have funfetti cake since he was only able to eat yellow cake… then again, you never heard any of us complaining that we got to eat funfetti cake. I don’t know what it was about it, but it just seemed better than most other cakes, especially other ones that came from boxes. 

Since it was his birthday this week I decided to make funfetti cupcakes even though he’s 200 miles away.  So Happy Birthday Andy! These cupcakes are for you, in theory at least…


This recipe is your standard cake recipe, and it's pretty easy to make as long as you have an electric mixer.  A standalone mixer would be incredibly helpful between the cake and the icing, but a hand mixer is just fine!  The cupcakes turn out light and fluffy and the icing is incredibly creamy and not too sweet.  The flavors compliment each other perfectly and trying to make funfetti cake from scratch is definitely worth it, even if you only do it once!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Funfetti Cupcakes from here – Makes about 12 cupcakes:

1-1/4 cups AP flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk 

2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

Icing from More from Magnolia: Recipes From The World-Famous Bakery and Magnolia's Home Kitchen:

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Start by sifting flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside. Next, beat the butter and sugar until they’re combined and creamy, this should take 2-3 minutes.  Once the butter and sugar are combined add the egg and egg white one at a time. Next add in the vanilla.

 

Then, in three additions, add the dry ingredients.  Add the milk in intervals with the dry ingredients.  It’ll go something like this: dry ingredients, milk, dry ingredients, milk, dry ingredients.  Make sure you fully incorporate what you’ve added to the batter before you add something new. 

When you’re done with this, fold the sprinkles into the batter and make sure that they’re more-or-less evenly distributed. 

Put cupcake liners in the cupcake tin and fill the cupcake liners so that they’re about half full.  Place into the oven on the middle rack and bake for 17-20 minutes.  Use a toothpick to make sure that they’re cooked. 

When the cupcakes are cooled put the icing on them and roll them in sprinkles if you’d like.  Then serve and enjoy!

For the icing:

In a saucepan whisk the flour and the milk until there are no lumps in the mixture.  Place over medium heat and stir continually while sauce thickens and bubbles.  For the record my sauce didn’t bubble, but make sure you do continually stir, if you stop for more than 10 seconds the sauce hardens and you have to whisk out all the lumps again.  Continue stirring for 10-15 minutes.  When the sauce is thick take it off of heat, cover it with wax paper and let it cool for 30 minutes or until it is room temperature. 

Beat the butter for 3 minutes on medium speed until it becomes smooth and creamy.  Slowly add the sugar into the butter and scrape down the sides of the bowl while you mix in the sugar.  Continue to beat together the sugar and butter until it is smooth, this should take about three minutes.  Mix in the vanilla. Then add the cooled milk and four mixture and beat on medium speed for five minutes.  The frosting will become very smooth and the color will become even whiter.  Refrigerate for exactly fifteen minutes and then frost cupcakes immediately. 

It’s really important that you follow the directions as they’re given, otherwise the frosting can become greasy looking. 

I've decided that the formatting I've been using isn't as user-friendly as I'd like, so from now on I'll be including the full instructions on the bottom of the post:

Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Start by sifting flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside.  Next, beat the butter and sugar until they’re combined and creamy, this should take 2-3 minutes.  Once the butter and sugar are combined add the egg and egg white one at a time. Next add in the vanilla. 

Then, in three additions, add the dry ingredients.  Add the milk in intervals with the dry ingredients.  It’ll go something like this: dry ingredients, milk, dry ingredients, milk, dry ingredients.  Make sure you fully incorporate what you’ve added to the batter before you add something new. 

When you’re done with this, fold the sprinkles into the batter and make sure that they’re more-or-less evenly distributed.  Put cupcake liners in the cupcake tin and fill the cupcake liners so that they’re about half full.  Place into the oven on the middle rack and bake for 17-20 minutes.  Use a toothpick to make sure that they’re cooked.  

Icing: In a saucepan whisk the flour and the milk until there are no lumps in the mixture.  Place over medium heat and stir continually while sauce thickens and bubbles.  For the record my sauce didn’t bubble, but make sure you do continually stir, if you stop for more than 10 seconds the sauce hardens and you have to whisk out all the lumps again.  Continue stirring for 10-15 minutes.  When the sauce is thick take it off of heat, cover it with wax paper and let it cool for 30 minutes or until it is room temperature. 

Beat the butter for 3 minutes on medium speed until it becomes smooth and creamy.  Slowly add the sugar into the butter and scrape down the sides of the bowl while you mix in the sugar.  Continue to beat together the sugar and butter until it is smooth, this should take about three minutes.  Mix in the vanilla. Then add the cooled milk and four mixture and beat on medium speed for five minutes.  The frosting will become very smooth and the color will become even whiter.  Refrigerate for exactly fifteen minutes and then frost cupcakes immediately. 

It’s really important that you follow the directions as they’re given, otherwise the frosting can become greasy looking.