Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO! Okay, so this post has no relation to the lovely holiday that is being celebrated today, but I just thought I'd mention it. An exciting that that did happen today - well exciting to some - is that there was a mother of all storms this afternoon. Tornado watches, lightning, thunder, and the most intense rain storm ever. I was at work, at it's a warehouse, which makes everything sound so much louder, and I seriously thought the building was going to fall down it was raining so hard. Anyway, I actually made these brownies the other night, but I'm just getting around to posting them now. I was really really wanting to make cheesecake brownies and then when I saw this recipe, I knew it was going to be amazing because I LOVE raspberry jam. I have it on toast practically every morning. They were pretty easy to make. I'm not going to lie, they looked rather gross when they came right out of the oven. The pockets where the jam was looked like oozing scabs, but once they cooled and I cut them up, they started to look much more appetizing. That evening when I ate them, they were delicious. Unlike some cheesecake desserts, the cheese wasn't overwhelming and the raspberry jam was subtle yet delicious. I had a few left over and put them in the fridge, but for future reference, I highly recommend just eating them ASAP and not refrigerating them, because they certainly did not taste as good a few days later. adapted from bakingbites.com

• Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 2 ounces chopped dark chocolate
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup raspberry jam (I guess you could really use any kind of jam you want)

1. Preheat over to 350 Degrees. Line 8x8 baking dish with aluminum foil and lightly grease. (I used 9x9 because that was all I had - they were just a little thinner, but not noticable.)
2. In a small bowl, melt chocolate and butter together. Mix until smooth. (I just microwaved) Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
4. Whisking steadily, pour chocolate mixture into sugar mixture. Stir until smooth.
5. Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into the bowl and stir until just combined.
6. Pour into prepared pan and set aside for the time being
7. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar egg and vanilla until smooth. Drop big dallops into chocolate (already in pan). Follow by spoonfuls of the raspberry jam.
8. With a knife, swirl cheese batter and raspberry around chocolate to give swirled look.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until knife inserted into middle comes out clean.
10. Cool completely before cutting.

Swirled Brownies

So tomorrow is my friend Jackie's' 18th birthday!! YAYA!!! Jackie loves socks, so last year I got her socks and this year I plan on getting her a biography of Benjamin Franklin. Why? you might ask. Well, she is going to Penn next year and I was reading in a college book and they had lists of different things you should have/get before you go to college. One of the things on the list for Penn was Franklin's biography. I thought it would be funny - but I doubt she will get it at first. Anyway, I had to make her something edible as well, and when I asked her what she wanted, she "Surprise me." But soon after she said, "Brownies." I didn't want to make just plain chocolate brownies because those are just boring. I was going to do something with peanut butter, but when I returned home from school I realized that we were basically out of peanut butter. Oh no! So I settled on a mix - half brownie/half blondie. I just took a pretty basic blondie recipe, split it in half, added some cocoa to one half, and then because I felt like it, I put in about a cup or so of chocolate chips just to add a little flare to them. The final result looked really cool - black and white with hints of chocolate chips that had melted in some places and stayed whole in other. They were a little dry. I took them out of the oven after 25 minutes, but they probaly could have used a few less, so a glass of milk I'm sure would complement them perfectly. I certainly hope Jackie likes them!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 2 2/3 cups plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chunks, or chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan, line the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil – making sure to leave an overhang on the sides - and grease that again.
3. In a large bowl, mix together oil and brown sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides after each addition.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and then add them to the brown sugar mixture. Mix well.
5. Split batter into two separate bowls.
6. Mix the one half of the batter with 1/4 cup cocoa, leaving the other half as is.
7. Mix chocolate chips into blondie batter and then spread batter out onto prepared pan
8. Drop the chocolate batter by heaping spoonfuls into the pan the blondie batter.
9. Using or knife or spoon, marble the two batters together – as much or as little as you like!
10. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. After 20 minutes or so, remove from pan and let complete cooling on baking rack.

Chewy Chewy Blondie Brownies

So in my rage of baking a many banana nut muffins to get rid of all the bananas we had that were going bad, I decided to try something besides fruit muffins, which turned into brownies. Not just ordinary brownies, but delicious chocolaty, chewy, blondie brownies. I got the recipe here, but I left out the nuts and the toffee bits and added an extra cup of chocolate chips. They were very very sweet and the lack of toffee was made up for by the coconut and chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Brownies

One day while I was browsing the baking aisle at the supermarket, I saw that peanut butter chips were on sale, so naturally I bought a pack. I found a recipe for Peanut Butter Brownies from Hershey's. They were very rich and peanut buttery. The top glaze was a little gooey, and I probably would just leave it off if I made them in the future. INGREDIENTS * 1-1/4 cups butter , melted * 1-3/4 cups sugar * 4 eggs * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract * 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour * 2/3 cup Cocoa * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1-2/3 cups Peanut Butter Chips, divided * PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE(recipe follows) Directions: 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. 2. Stir together butter and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; beat with spoon or whisk until well blended. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring until well blended. Reserve 1/2 cup peanut butter chips for glaze; stir remaining chips into batter. Spread batter into prepared pan. 3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE; drizzle over brownies. Let stand until glaze is set. Cut into squares. About 32 brownies. PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE 1. Combine 1/2 cup REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips (reserved from brownies), 2 tablespoons butter or margarine and 2 tablespoons milk in small microwave-safe bowl. 2. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 45 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Gradually add 1/4 cup powdered sugar, beating with whisk until smooth. About 1/2 cup glaze.