CookWomanFood.com » brownies

Snow Day + National Cream Cheese Brownie Day = Extra Workout!

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:39:11 +0000

Today is one of those bittersweet winter days as there is no school due to an impending storm which in itself is a wonderful thing, but on the other hand, come June, this snowday really puts a damper on having an early summer vacation! I guess you can’t have it all. But wait! Today, February 10, is National Cream Cheese Brownie day! I am home, snowbound in a couple hours, and have all the ingredients I need to fill my home with the aroma of fresh baked brownies and after a long walk and a couple hours of shoveling a small brownie will not wreak havoc with my diet! I might even get an hour of Wii in also. Here is a quick and easy recipe for Cream Cheese Brownies. Have a wonderful holiday!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Swirled Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies:
1 pkg. dark brownie mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (no option here!) I used mint and dark chocolate chips to give just a hint of mint to this recipe! Worked great!

Cream Cheese Mixture:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
5 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 drops red or green food coloring
Combine butter and cream cheese, creaming until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in 1 egg, flour, vanilla, and food coloring. Set aside.

Glaze:
1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter

Directions
1. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions adding in nuts and chips if desired. Pour half in a greased 13 x 9 pan.
2. Cover with cheese mixture; top with remaining chocolate batter.
3. Cut through mixture in pan with a knife to create a marbled effect.
4. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes. Perform the knife check to see if done. If not, cook a little longer.
5. Cool on wire rack; cut into squares.
6. When cool, prepare glaze.

Glaze
1. Melt chocolate with butter in the microwave. If too thick, add more butter. If too thin add more chocolate.
2. Spread over brownies.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Christmas Brownies

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:35:41 +0000

Christmas Cream Cheese Brownies

We had our staff Christmas buffet today at school and I had signed up to make a yum dessert. I made the Over the Top Cookies, but decided to try another dessert also as the Over the Top were not too pretty. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t ugly and they were delicious, it’s just that I wanted to make sure that CookWoman’s dessert was totally welcome and enticing. These brownies were! I sometimes cut corners and use a mix and I must say that Betty Crocker’s Dark Chocolate Brownies mix is quite delicious and everytime I make them people are shocked that they came from a mix. Go Betty. So I used the brownie mix for the base, added some mint and dark chocolate chips on top of the cream cheese mix, and made a nice glaze for the top. As you can see they are quite inviting. The mint and dark chips gave just a hint of mintiness to the recipe. I added some Christmas nonpareils for an added festive touch. Unfortunately there is a downside to this recipe: it is hard to eat one! I suggest brushing your teeth immediately after to get rid of the wonderful taste! Enjoy!

Glaze:
1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter

Glaze
1. Melt chocolate with butter in the microwave. If too thick, add more butter. If too thin add more chocolate.
2. Spread over brownies and sprinkle with some Christmas sprinkles for an added festive touch.

Pastry Club Monday Continues-What Are You Waiting For?

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:57:10 +0000

We have a monthly holiday at our school, called Pastry Club. It is a food holiday, goodies baked up by people that know their food and have their priorities straight. After all, what could be better on a Monday morning than a perfection confection? There is nothing. Nada, not a thing. I haven’t written about Pastry Club Monday in a while, but I feel the need to as this month was the Pastry Club of months. There were home baked goodies brought in from people that weren’t even supposed to bring anything in! If you like treats and want to get into starting a pastry club, it’s easy! Just ask people if they want to join a pastry club. There will be an outpouring of people ready to get in the act. What better club to belong to? This month’s delicacies were chocolate and blonde brownies, a chocolate candy ball that one had to roll in confectioner’s sugar, pecan rolls better known as sticky buns, coffee rolls with nuts, and lemon squares. I cannot post the exact recipes but what I can do is post the pictures. They should give anyone the motivation needed to start this club. Maybe we can get Pastry Club Monday to be the new legal holiday. I live in Massachusetts and we love holidays, after all, we have quite a few that no other state celebrates!

Tri-level Brownies-Great for Easter too!

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:48:46 +0000

Chocolate, where would I be without it? Love it any time of day, day of the year, and any year! When I think of Easter I tend to get images of pastels-flowers, candies, etc. It doesn’t have to be that way. Chocolate is still a perfect dessert for Easter and I don’t think any person that is in the right frame of mind is going to object to this confectionery delight! I know I wouldn’t and I am not always in the right frame of mind!! How’s your thinking?

Tri-level Brownies

Crust Layer (bottom)
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tablespoons melted butter

Mix together press into an 9X9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Layer (middle)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted then cooled
1 egg
2/3 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix sugar, butter, chocolate, and egg.
Add baking powder, flour, and salt to mixture and stir.
Add in milk and vanilla. Stir in nuts. Spread on top of crust.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frosting Layer (top)
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsps. hot water

Melt chocolate and butter in a pan over low heat.
Remove and stir in confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and hot water.
Spread over cooled brownies and decorate with walnut halves.

Chocolate Mint Bars-Perfect, and I mean Perfect!

admin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:42:24 +0000

I recently received a request for a recipe for Chocolate Mint Bars, still yet another green dessert for St. Patrick’s Day. I cannot take credit for this recipe. My daughter-in-law prepared these this summer for our trip to Lake Powell. Funny story: Amy spent a lot of time making them so that we would have a dessert. In all the commotion getting everything packed, the brownies were left behind! She thought Dan packed them, Dan thought she packed them and so on… Maybe that’s one of those stories that’s only funny when you’re there. Anyways, here is the recipe.

Chocolate Mint Bars

Bottom Layer:
1 C. Flour
½ t. Salt
1 C. Sugar
½ C. Egg Substitute or 3 large eggs
¼ C. Butter, melted
2 T Water
1 t. Vanilla
2 Large Eggs, beaten
16 oz Chocolate Syrup
Cooking Spray

Mint Layer:
2 C. Powdered Sugar
¼ C. Butter, melted
2 T Skim Milk
½ t. Peppermint Extract
2 Drops Food Coloring (optional)

Glaze:
¾ C. Semisweet Chocolate Chips
3 T Butter

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Combine flour and salt. Stir with a whisk.
In another bowl, combine remaining bottom layer ingredients. Stir until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix well. Pour batter into a 13×9 pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 23 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

In mixer, combine mint layer ingredients. Beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.

Combine chocolate chips and butter and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave another 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted. Let stand for 2 minutes. Spread over mint layer.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

** I also made some with Raspberry Extract and Red food coloring. Also very good.

** These bars get better after a day or so in the fridge so they are great to make a day ahead of time. Serve chilled.

Happy Valentine’s Day With Rich Fudgey Brownies

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:43:10 +0000

Today is the day for romance. If there is no one in your life that you’d like to be romancing you still can celebrate Valentines’ Day. What’s not to love about chocolate, lemon, or your other favorite flavor? I for one am lucky and I have that someone special in my life but food takes a very close second place. Know what I mean? They say one can’t live without love. What they don’t say is what is love? I say it is anything that brings a stir to the heart. Men come and go but food is always there for everyone!! So Happy Valentines’ Day with rich, fudgey brownies. It is still freezing up here in New England so food is a comfort. We are nearing the deadline of comfort foods though (shorts and bathing suit weather is nearing) so enjoy now before it’s too late!! Tip: Never overcook brownies! Less is best!

Em’s Fantastic Fudge Brownies

3/4 cups baking cocoa
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 /13 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix cocoa and soda and add 1/3 cup of the oil. Blend together.
Add water and stir until thick.
Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining oil til smooth.
Add flour, salt, and vanilla.

Bake in lightly greased 13X9 pan for 35-40 minutes. Form into hearts with a heart cookie cutter and frost with pink tinted frosting.

Frosting: Mix 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, 1-2 tbsp. shortening, couple drops of red food coloring, and a little milk (2-3 tbsps). Beat til smooth.

Pastry Club Day-The New Monthly Holiday

admin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:24:21 +0000

Today was Pastry Club day. It is the day where people who enjoy a homemade delicious treat get rewarded for waiting. Well, not really. But, it is the day, the first Monday of each month, where a couple of the members of the Pastry Club bring in their tasty morsels. I actually look forward to this as I am usually much behaved when it comes to indulging in sweets. Somewhat behaved as long as I am not on the ice cream a night streak. The Pastry Club was formed at the end of a rather long year at school. Stress can bring out the worse in many people. For a few of the teachers at our school, it brought out the cookie sheets and pans. Yum. Many people lose their appetites when the stress factor increases, however for our select few, cravings increase and to satisfy ourselves the Pastry Club was born. Everyone should have Pastry Club Monday. It is very successful and many of us look forward to what the monthly bakers will produce. In fact I overheard two of the maintenance crew who had just entered the building say, “This is Pastry Club day, right?” I have a co-worker that makes Pastry Club Monday the day where he visits my building and completes repairs needed. This month we were greeted with brownies, both chocolate and blonde, and some pumpkin cake. Well, today is finished and we can only look forward to what next month will bring. December, Christmas, visions of sugar plums….

: Brownies and Pumpkin Cake