Cookies/Brownies

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies

Did anyone watch the Oscars last night?  Of course Bradley Cooper looked gorgeous, the dresses were stunning and Adele’s beauty and voice were flawless.  A while ago I thought about making some appetizers and inviting some girlfriends over to watch the show but after an impromtu Atlantic City trip on Saturday that didn’t get me in bed until 3am, my Sunday was unproductive.  On the ride home, I somehow started talking to my friends about the ridiculously insanely good brownie batter donuts from Dunkin Donuts and about my obsession with brownie batter in general.  Since I spent my Sunday napping and being lazy, I didn’t cook one thing but couldn’t stop thinking about brownies, including these Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies I made last week.

Lightened brownie batter is jazzed up with raspberry preserves and cream cheese and baked until light and cakey.  These brownies aren’t the most gooey brownies I’ve ever had but it’s hard for me to find anything bad to say about any brownies.  If you like your brownies cake-like and a little fancy, give these a try.  Any other preserves would work here too like cherry or blackberry.  These treats are great when you just need something chocolate and have brownies on the brain like I did.

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The ingredients:

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To prepare the filling, beat the sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, flour and egg white at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended, and set aside.

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Lightly spoon 3/4 cup flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Combine 1 cup sugar and the next 6 ingredients (1 cup sugar through the 2 egg whites), stirring well with a whisk. Add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

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Spread two-thirds of batter in bottom of an 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray (do not coat the sides of the pan). Pour filling over batter, spreading evenly (the batter will be thick). Carefully drop the remaining batter and preserves by spoonfuls over filling; swirl together using the tip of a knife to marble.

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Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool on a wire rack.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine

Chewy Chocolate Almond Bars

A bar cookie with chocolate and toffee?  Hmm…okay!  I got this recipe for Chewy Chocolate Almond Bars when I ended up scooping up a bag of Heath English Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits in my baking aisle madness, loading bag after bag of different flavored chips into my cart only to realize after I got home that I didn’t have a recipe planned for these (in addition to a bag of white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips which still sit sad and lonely on my kitchen counter).  So I went scouring Hershey’s website looking for something that stopped me in my tracks and I found these.  Really, it was the almonds that sold me.  And the chocolate.  And the toffee.

A simple chocolate shortbread dough is the base of these bar cookies which is baked slightly and then covered with a bubbly hot mixture of milk chocolate toffee bits, light corn syrup and sliced almonds.  Back into the oven it goes where the toffee mixture gets even more ooey and gooey and when it comes out of the oven bubbling like lava, you are left saying “ahhh…look at that”.  The hard part is waiting and waiting and waiting for these cookies to cool COMPLETELY to cut them into perfect squares.  The chewy topping is the winner here and shortbread base sort of disappears under the gooey madness on top.  If you like toffee, these should be a homerun for you.

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The ingredients:

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Beat butter and sugar until thoroughly blended.  Stir together flour and cocoa; beat into butter mixture.

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Press dough evenly into a greased 13x9x2-inch baking pan.  Bake in a 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are set.

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Meanwhile, combine toffee bits and corn syrup in medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until toffee is melted (about 15 minutes).

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Stir in 3/4 cup almonds.

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Spread toffee mixture to within 1/4-inch of edges of crust.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup almonds.

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Bake an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

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Cut into bars.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Hershey’s Kitchens website

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Like Red Velvet cake and want to make a super simple – and festive – cookie this weekend?  Try these Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies.

With only five ingredients, you can’t get much simpler than this.  Using boxed red velvet cake mix eliminates many ingredients and saves a ton of time.  Not to mention you don’t have to worry about the possibility of ending up with red food coloring in random spots in your kitchen, on your clothes or under your fingernails like you do when making typical red velvet recipes from scratch.  What I love specifically about these cookies is the fact that they add a festive color to your cookie jar and really do mirror the beloved flavor of red velvet.  They do use quite a bit of oil – maybe even a little too much – so they stay moist and always soft.  Any red velvet lover will appreciate you bringing these crinkle cookies to the table.

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The ingredients:

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In a large bowl, combine cake mix and flour.  Whisk until clumps disappear.

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In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake mix, flour, eggs, oil and vanilla extract.  Mix until smooth.

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Take about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and form into a ball.  Roll the ball in powdered sugar until fully coated.  Place cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheet.  Bake in a 350ºF oven for 10 minutes, or until edges are set and cookies begin to crack.

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Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Two Peas and Their Pod blog

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