Super Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

{printable recipe here}
This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is a simple, rich brownie. I love love love brownies. Of all the desserts I made they are probably my favorite (that and cheesecake) but I couldn't squeeze this recipe in. However, last minute my parents had a Super Bowl party and last minute (as in during the actual game) we decided we needed something sweet so I made my go-to brownies. I swirled in reduced fat cream cheese and broken Dove candies filled with Peanut butter for an extra surprise. They are kind of (I REALLY hate to say it) semi-homemade but when you're in a real hurry and the kids are crying semi is better than not at all. Maybe I'll eat my words on that later and maybe some of you will "unfriend" me or whatever but these brownies were eaten quicker than they were made. Which is saying something.

I like to line my pan with two pieces of aluminum foil- the first "hot dog style" folded to the width of the pan, the second "hamburger style" over the first. Then grease, then pour, then bake, then lift out beautiful brownies. Plus, if you're like me and have your husband take the brownies out, he'll ensure they aren't overly gooey like mine usually are. Ah, perfection is a close as a hastily lined brownie pan. Really, though, don't the scraped out and mangled brownies kind of ruin it for you? Try this next time or just let me know if I'm the only one who cares about such things.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $50 giftcard to the Safeway family of stores here and see the rest of the real "brownies for Julia" at the TWD Blogroll.


Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies
from Anne Strawberry

{printable recipe here}

1 package Betty Crocker Deluxe brownie mix (I like the one with the chocolate chunks, not the fudge), prepared as instructed on the box
1 package Neufchatel (reduced fat) Cream Cheese (softened- on the counter or in the microwave on low power for one minute)
1 Egg
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
10 Dove chocolates filled with peanut butter, broken into quarters (or your favorite candy bar, nut, etc)

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare brownies as directed on the box and pour into prepared 9 x 13 baking dish.

In a small bowl, whip the cream cheese until soft and smooth (about one minute). Add the egg, sugar, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Dollop spoonfuls evenly over the brownies, drop on the candy, and use a butter knife to carefully swirl the pattern by pulling it through the batter until desired look is achieved.

Bake for about 30 minutes until they are done as you like them (gooey for me, just set for my Tall Man).

Pomegranate Swirl Cheesecake with Chocolate Cheerio Crust and a Giveaway

Happy super bowl Sunday! Since I absolutely don't care about football (I'm tall- I've always liked basketball {players}) the Superbowl is just a good excuse for a party. It's been a fun weekend and I'm finally getting around to posting a winner for the General Mill's Chocolate Cheerio's giveaway. A trip to random.org has chosen Audra Roberts- so email me your address Audra and I'll get them right in the mail! Now here is the promised dessert featuring the cheerios. I made a crust using ground up Chocolate Cheerios. I figured they're a lot better for you than Oreos but still chocolately and delicious. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I think it worked. I also swirled in some mini chocolate chips and pomegranate molasses I made with some juice that Pom Wonderful mailed me. Pomegranate juice is seriously healthy (my dad loves him and couldn't believe I was going to cook with it instead of letting him drink it all!) Alton Brown has an awesome episode on Pomegranates and I used his recipe for the molasses which I've kept in a jar in my fridge for a while. I tried making Molasses Crinkle cookies with it but the color and the flavor didn't come through- I'm saving the rest for some yummy pork loin. Back to the cheesecake. I just swirled in those two ingredients to my basic cheesecake batter from my favorite Lemon Curd Cheesecake. Between the cereal crust, reduced fat cream cheese, and pomegranate juice this is practically health food. Haha. You could also sub in cherry pie filling or something similar. As Ina would say, "Chocolate, Cream, Sugar, Butter- how bad can that be?"


Speaking of health food, Safeway and FiberOne Yogurt (through myBlogSpark) have given me a $50 Safeway gift card to give to one of my readers so you can try their yogurt. They sent me one and a coupon to try it so I could let you know what I thought. I couldn't believe how yummy it was. I used to have a Yoplait almost every morning in college but I've since consumed most of my yogurt frozen via Golden Spoon. I think this Fiber One Yogurt has changed my mind, though. It's crazy delicious and good for you too (for real, unlike my cheesecake). So leave a comment to be entered to win the gift card. And stop by Safeway- the four packs of yogurt are 2 for $4 through Tuesday. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you and enter by Friday night, midnight AZ time. And if your store has it make sure you try the Key Lime flavor!

Pomegranate Swirl Cheesecake with Chocolate Cheerio Crust
by Anne Strawberry

Crust:
2 1/2 Cups Chocolate Cheerios, crushed (in a baggie with a mallet or in the food processor)
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder (I like Hershey's special dark)

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and press into four mini springform pans or one regular springform. A pie pan will also work if that's all you have. Make sure the layer is even and not too thick. Bake for 8 minutes and set aside to cool completely.

Filling:
2 packages Neufchatel (1/3 less fat) Cream Cheese, completely softened
2/3 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 tablespoons Pomegranate Molasses (or cherry pie filling)
1/3 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Optional Garnish:
Chocolate Syrup or Sauce
Whipped Cream

Preheat the oven to 350. Beat cream cheese in stand mixer for two minutes, or until completely smooth. Add sugar and eggs and beat for one more minute. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla and divide mixture among pans. Spoon 1/2 tablespoon molasses at a time over the cheesecake, sprinkle on the chocolate chips, and use a butter knife to gently swirl it in.

Bake for 45 minutes for a full sized springform or 25-30 minutes for miniature pans (or until it looks set and doesn't jiggle too much- it may crack, but don't stress it!) Allow to cool at room temperature and then in the fridge until chilled. Serve with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is the Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes. I'm no bundt connoisseur like Mary but I did lust after one of those cathedral bundt pans at Williams Sonoma for a couple of years before I found this mini one on clearance there for $9.99 when I was pregnant with my little man (and my tall man was more than willing to placate his crazy wife, thank goodness!). Well I'll be honest and tell you I've only used it three times so far but the results have been adorable each time so I think it was worth it.

Really though, I have serious issues with baking pans. Every time I see a fancy pan I pick it up, look it over, and have to really convince myself to put it back (or if I'm at Ross or TJ Maxx and find a good deal I carefully put it in the cart and hope my husband doesn't notice my growing collection!). The pan I've really been looking to get lately is a Mini Cheesecake Pan, one that has the removable bottoms for perfect bite size cheesecake any time. Anyways, I hope I'm not the only one with these issues! Thank goodness for Tuesdays with Dorie and so many different recipes to test my boundaries and use my many purchases. I'm also grateful for the nice tall cabinet in my garage right outside my kitchen door to house my overflowing kitchen appliances and pans!

So back to these cakes. They come together in a snap and house a nice layer of cocoa powdered coated walnuts. That was my favorite part of the cake. Next time I would use bittersweet chocolate since the chocolate flavor was very weak and then top them with ganache. The melted chocolate with corn syrup never came together for me but my kitchen helpers were happy to eat it right away. We actually dipped almonds in the extra failed glaze and that snack was as delicious as the cake!

When my brother tried one he said, "it's kind of like a donut, eh." So my mom of course told him not to eat it if he didn't like it, to which he replied, "Oh I'll eat it, don't worry!" Yay for single guys, too funny. So while this wasn't our favorite we certainly ate it. Dorie is spoiling us all!

See the recipe at Kristen's blog and come back next week for Brownies. Yum.

Baby Strawberry (who is getting so big and starting to get mad when I don't share my baked goods with her) hopes you have a great day and reminds you to enter the Chocolate Cheerios Giveaway! I'll announce the winner this week and with any luck will have an awesome recipe featuring my favorite new cereal. And yes, it will be a dessert!

Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes

{printable recipe here}

My little man is three. I'm in total shock. He's been all about birthdays lately (what with everyone else in the family having a summer/fall day- so he's had a lot of birthday experiences to remember!) When his started getting close he kept asking for orange cupcakes and orange balloons. My mom asked him a couple weeks ago what we would have for his birthday and he again insisted, "People always have cupcakes for their birthdays!" She then said, "Sometimes people have brownies," to which he quickly replied, "Cupcakes with brownies on top?"

Maybe next year I'll make the cupcakes with brownies on top happen. For this year, though, we made Orange Cupcakes (my little man is a very willing helper when it comes to baked goods- sits right on the counter and is in charge of dumping in ingredients and locking and unlocking the mixer). I flavored a yellow cake with orange zest and made orange frosting by adding orange zest and subbing fresh orange juice for the milk in my usual cream cheese frosting. I also made a batch of chocolate cupcakes, thinking only the kids would go for the obnoxious orange colored food. I was wrong- the newly dubbed "Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes" flew off the pan (which explains the crappy picture, no time to play with your food when guests are clamoring!) Try these- they're good for adults and kids alike, although I would definitely go with a milder orange color if you aren't catering to the kiddos!

Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes for my Little Man
by Anne Strawberry

{printable recipe here}

1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Oil
1 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
Zest from one Orange, finely grated
1 Yellow Cake Mix (I like Betty Crocker's)
Orange food coloring (or red and yellow)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine all ingredients except food coloring in stand mixer and mix on low to combine, about one minute. Then increase speed to medium high for two more minutes until well blended. Add drops of food coloring to achieve desired color and mix lightly until incorporated.

Using an ice cream scoop, portion batter into lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back which touched with a finger tip and they look done.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
1 block Neufchatel (reduced fat) cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 bag (1 pound) powdered sugar
Fresh squeezed orange juice (from the zested oranges), as needed (about 1 tablespoon)

Cream the cream cheese, butter, and orange zest until smooth and well combined. With the mixer off, add the powdered sugar. Cover with a clean dish towel and combine on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Remove towel and increase speed to make a smooth frosting, adding orange juice or more sugar until desired consistency is reached. Using a large tip (or a gallon baggie with a small corner clipped off) pipe onto cooled cupcakes.