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. 

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

This winter has been so incredibly long and drawn out that I almost feel like I don’t know what to do with myself.  I keep hoping for spring, but all I get is another week of winter.  So I thought that maybe if I make a recipe that is the epitome of comfort food that you want on a winter day, spring would actually come.  I don’t know if this will actually work, but it’s worth a shot.  I also really just wanted an excuse to make this recipe again; it’s so incredibly easy (I know I say that a lot, but this time I mean it.  This might be the easiest recipe I’ve posted on this website).

I’m sure you’ve seen recipes for chocolate mug cakes around the internet, but a lot of them look dry and almost too cakey I found this recipe on babble.com and it was everything I’d hoped I would ever find in a chocolate cake.  It was moist, rich, a little nutty and so incredibly easy (did I say that already?)  This is perfect comfort food to end a bad day with, and it tastes good enough to serve when you’ve got company.

 

Now, if you can’t tell this was too big for me to actually make in any of the mugs that I have, so I chose to use a microwave safe bowl.  You can use whichever you’d prefer.  But be warned: this makes a surprisingly large amount of cake.  You can definitely split this between 2-4 people, especially if you serve it with ice cream on the side… Just sayin’.

I know I’m repeating myself, but this recipe is so easy anyone that can count to four can make it.  I’m not joking.  Here’s what you’ll need:

4 tablespoons self rising flour

4 tablespoons white granulated sugar

1 egg

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 tablespoons Nutella *

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

*You could probably substitute peanut butter for Nutella if you don’t like hazelnuts.  Just a thought.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until all of the ingredients are combined and smooth.  Put the bowl into the microwave and cook for 1 ½ minutes to 3 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave.  I microwaved mine for about as long as it typically takes me to heat a bowl of soup.    When you take the bowl out of the microwave use oven  mitts since the bowl will be hot.  Let sit for a few minutes and enjoy.

 

You can add toppings like powdered sugar, whipped cream, ice cream, nuts, or essentially anything you want to put on a chocolate cake!  So give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed!

PW's "The Best Coffee Cake. Ever"

So last semester I was more or less the worst food blogger ever.  I’m not proud of that fact, but between not having a camera to use and being too lazy to update my blog, I just didn’t.  That doesn’t mean that I didn’t cook, I just stuck to recipes that I knew and wasn’t excited to write about… I tried my best to take pictures though, and since it’s midterms here at Wheaton I’m going to use one of the recipes that I have stored from last semester to make up for my lack of updates recently.  So here goes nothing: (Oh and fun fact, all of these pictures were taken with my phone’s camera).

I’ve had the same best friend since second grade, and since then she and I have done almost everything together.  Even though we go to different schools when we’re home for break we’re almost inseparable.  And quite frankly she’s one of the few people that knows how to help me in the kitchen (mainly because she knows when to help and when to step back).  Over winter break she and I made the Pioneer Woman’s “The Best Coffee Cake. Ever.” and to be completely honest, it was probably was one of the best coffee cakes I’ve ever had.  It didn’t turn out quite like hers, but the cake was still soft and fluffy and the topping was still just as delicious as coffee cake crumbs can be. 

The recipe is somewhat time-consuming, but it’s worth it, and it makes a lot of coffee cake!  Kat and I were able to split it between our two families (and she’s got four siblings to share with).  So if you’ve got an electric mixer you should definitely give this recipe a shot!

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the cake

• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• 2 cups Scant Sugar*
• 3 cups Flour, Sifted
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1-¼ cup Whole Milk
• 3 whole Egg Whites, Beaten Until Stiff

For the crumbs:

• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• ¾ cups Flour
• 1-½ cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1-½ cup Pecans, Chopped

*Scant sugar is just another way of saying” a little bit less than”.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 

Beat the egg whites and set aside for later.  It’s easiest to beat egg whites with a beater ahead of time instead of trying to beat them by hand… unless you want to work out your arms, then by all means go ahead!

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the dry ingredients and milk alternating as you mix.  Be sure that you don’t over-mix the ingredients because this can lead to the cake having a stiffer texture.  (On a side note, I walked away to measure something without realizing that I left the mixer on and after about three minutes of the ingredients mixing constantly I realized it.  DON’T do that.)

Use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the batter.  Do this gently and only fold until the ingredients are completely mixed. 

Pour the mix into a buttered 9x13 cake pan (the higher the sides the better).  I didn’t have a 9x13 cake pan so I guesstimated and hoped for the best.

In a clean bowl combine the crumb ingredients with a pastry cutter.  If you don’t have a pastry cutter a fork or your hands work just fine.  Spread evenly over the cake and place the cake in the oven.  Let it cook for about 40-45 minutes.  Make sure the center still wiggles a little bit when you take it out of the oven. 

This recipe was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy to make, even if it had a few steps.  It might have been the company, or the fact that I didn’t eat dinner that day, but I still think about this coffee cake some days when I’m really bored in class.  Judge me all you want until you try it.  Then you’ll understand.  

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Its official, I got accepted to culinary school! I know the majority of my readers know this fact already thanks to facebook, but I wanted to say it anyway.  I got the acceptance letter the night that I got home for break, and since then I’ve just been enjoying the fact that I know what I’m doing next year.  Between getting  culinary school and not having classes for a week I’ve been in a state of bliss.  

There’s something that just can’t be beat about sitting around the house during the day, doing homework at your leisure and cooking whatever you want for dinner.  One night my dad and I decided to try something new for dinner and make stuffed chicken breasts, and they were delicious.  We were so happy with how the recipe turned out and we were amazed at how easy it was. 

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and I couldn’t be happier with it. It had a 4.5 star rating and I can see why—this recipe was so simple and a really great dish.  The chicken was tender and moist, the spinach was green and a little creamy and the bacon tied the whole meal together adding flavor and making the dish just a bit more savory. It’s pretty healthy too since it has over 2 cups of spinach per serving!

This dish is so simple you can adapt it easily and play around with it!  The final product looks and tastes great with minimal effort; whether it’s to impress someone or just to have a simple and delicious dinner at home, this is definitely a recipe that you should try to make soon!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

1 pinch ground black pepper

8 slices bacon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use tinfoil to cover a shallow baking dish or cookie sheet (with at least ½ inch high walls).  

Empty the bag of spinach into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for and heat for three minutes, stirring every minute or so.  Take the bowl out of the microwave and mix in the sour cream, shredded cheese and garlic. 

Pound the halved chicken breasts until they’re ½ an inch thick and place aside.  Put a quarter of the spinach mixture on each chicken breast and spread it out evenly.  Roll the chicken breast up and wrap two of the pieces of bacon around the rolled piece of chicken.  Use a toothpick to hold everything in place. 

Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  When 30 minutes have passed increase the temperature to 500 degrees for 5-10 minutes so that the bacon can brown.   Take out of the oven and enjoy!