Tag: Cream Cheese

A Basic With a Twist

SadieLeave a comment

What’s better than a fudgy brownie at the end of a long day? A fudgy cream cheese brownie!  So easy and so delicious!

I’ve had cheesecake on my mind because my mom and I had a conversation a couple weeks ago.  My mom made a comment that she went to a big chain restaurant out on Long Island, where apparently you have to display calorie counts on the menu.  She noticed that the cheesecake on the dessert menu was fewer calories than the other cake options.  This surprised me because I’ve always considered cheesecake to be an extra indulgent treat. But hey, I’ll take it!

Rather than making a full blown cheesecake, I had a meeting for school earlier this week, so I decided to make cream cheese brownies.  And since we’re so close to Valentine’s Day, why not make them pink!  (or at least pink, plus a little golden brown tint from the oven)

One of my friends made cream cheese brownie cupcakes for a team meeting a couple months ago, so I took that inspiration along with a recipe from the old reliable Smitten Kitchen.  At the end of the day, all you need for great cream cheese brownies is a box brownie mix (I don’t make brownies from scratch), cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  So worth it!

Cream Cheese Brownies

Yields 16 2 inch squares, Adapted from recipe on Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

  • Your favorite brownie mix (plus all of the ingredients needed for that)
  • 8 oz cream cheese (room temp)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg yolk
  • dash salt
  • 1/2 -1 cup mini chocolate chips
  • red food coloring gel (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350, and prep an 8×8 pan with spray and/or parchment.
  2. Prepare the brownie batter according to the directions on the box. I usually make the “cakey” version rather than the “fudgy” version, which typically just takes an extra egg.winning combination
  3. In a separate bowl use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Add the food coloring if you want it to be pink.  Fold in the mini chocolate chips.blobs of goodness
  4. Pour the brownie batter into the pan. Put the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter in blobs.  You can swirl it a little to even out the top.looking good
  5. Bake for 25-50 minutes until just lightly golden brown.  Allow to cool and enjoy!cute little hearts

Raspberry Almond Cream Cheese Bars

Carrie3 Comments

Ingredients

1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 c. flour
2/3 c. sliced almonds
1 small jar of raspberry jam
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, sugar, salt and vanilla in a bowl.  Add the flour and mix well. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture in a separate bowl.

2.  In an ungreased 9×9 non-stick pan, pat the cookie mixture evenly on the bottom of the pan.  Cook crust for 10-15 minutes and set aside.

3.  In a bowl, combine softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.  Mix together until well blended and smooth in texture.  Poor this mixture over cookie crust.

4.  Mix the raspberry jam up in the jar with a tiny bit of warm water until it becomes slightly syrupy in texture. Spread raspberry jam over cream cheese mixture.

5. Add sliced almonds to the reserved 1 c. cookie mixture until combined. Crumble this over the cream cheese/raspberry swirl layer.  Cook in the oven for 25- 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Right Decision

Sadie1 Comment

Growing up people always tell you that everyone is good at something.  When you are grown, the task is to figure out what you’re good at and leverage those skills into a career.  Easier said than done.

What do you mean I can’t make a career out of crocheting doilies and telling my brothers what to do?

But that’s what I’m good at…

Grad school has come in handy in this respect, it helps me turn bossiness into “leadership skills” and crocheting into “creative thinking,” but it’s not so helpful with my baking habit.  When I decided to make a cream cheese pound cake last weekend, however, I knew I should turn to a specialist.  Considering the traditional ingredients in pound cake, along with the addition of cream cheese, one name came to mind: Paula Deen.

It was the right decision.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

yields 2 8×4 loaves or 1 tubular bunt cake

From Paula

Ingredients

  • 3 sticks room temp butter (1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 (8oz) package cream cheese
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you’re not an almond fan)
  • 3 cups AP flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 6 eggs

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 325 and prepare pans.
  2. Cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add sugar and extract, beat to combine.
  3. In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder.
  4. Add one third of the dry ingredients to the wet along with two eggs.  Mix to combine.  Repeat process twice more.  Try not to over-mix (Also try not to eat all the batter before you bake it, it tastes very much like cream cheese frosting and is hard to resist).
  5. Pour batter into pans and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until tester comes out clean (mine took longer).

My advice: If you need to meditate on your own “special skills,” do it over a slice (or five) of this cake.  It will make for a much more positive experience.

This is what happens when you put you oven racks too close. But it didn’t detract from the taste!