One day shy of two months since I last posted to this site… time just gets away from you. Part of the problem is that I haven’t been cooking, and when I have been cooking, I’ve been making things that are already on this site! I have actually cooked one or two things now that I need to post about though, so maybe I should do that. Get a current post on the front page, and all that.

I’m going to start with these Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies. Seriously, make these right now. They. Are. Awesome. I’ve actually made them twice now. I made them for my family when we got together for dinner on Sunday afternoon, and we practically licked the pan clean. So I had to make them again in order to take to work. These brownies are easy to make, and insanely delicious. Just about everyone took a bite, and then said, “Oh my god…” I found these at Smitten Kitchen

Let’s make them.

Ingredients: Flour, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, unsalted butter, salt, cream cheese, vanilla extract, eggs.

Chop up 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate. I chose to melt mine over the stove on low heat.

Add 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Stir frequently over low heat, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined.

I moved my chocolate/butter mixture into a separate large bowl.

Add one cup of sugar.

Two large eggs.

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Stir to combine.

At this point, please pretend like there is a picture of me adding in 2/3 cup of flour and stirring until it’s combined. Please and thank you. I do not know where this picture disappeared to.

Grease an 8X8 inch pan.

Spread the brownie batter in the pan.

Now it’s time to make the cheesecake batter. Put 8 ounces of very softened cream cheese into a separate bowl.

Add 1/3 cup of sugar.

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all the cheesecake ingredients. The directions actually say to whisk it together, but I don’t think that’s actually physically possible, so I got out the handmixer.

Drop cheesecake batter onto the brownie batter

Swirl cheesecake into the brownie batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until set, about 35 minutes. And just try and let them cool a little bit before you cut into them and enjoy! This recipe is definitely in my file to make over, and over, and over again.

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies
Gourmet, 2007 via Smitten Kitchen

Brownie batter
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.

Bake brownies: Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I still have several recipes waiting to be posted about… a couple of them cookies from *gasp* CHRISTMAS! But I made these brownies for my Easter gatherings this year, and I just can’t wait any longer to share them with you. Partly because of the fun new kitchen toys I got to use to make them, and partly because they are just that good. This was the first time I’d made brownies without using a box mix, so I made sure to tell everyone I shared them with that they were Brownies! From Scratch! I found the recipe at The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch.

They got pretty good reviews from everyone who tried them. My nephew seemed mostly interested in picking the “CANDY!” off the top, and then he was ready to put them back in the container. And pick a new one to pick the candy off of.

Here’s what you’ll need to make them for yourself:

Butter, sugar, vanilla extract, 4 eggs, flour, cocoa, salt, mini peanut butter cups, mini Reeses Pieces

First I chopped up my 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter cups and set those aside. And just so you know, the whole purpose of this picture is to show you the first of my new kitchen toys– my new knife.

Next you’ll need one cup of melted butter in a large bowl. This is the second of my new kitchen toys– a set of mixing bowls, the purchase of which I blame entirely on The Pioneer Woman

Add 3 cups of white sugar.

And one tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Then mix it all together.

Next, beat in your four eggs, one at a time.

Mix well after each egg, until it’s all thoroughly blended together.

In a separate bowl, add 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

Also add 1 teaspoon of salt.

Mix them all together. By the way, this is my idea of sifting ingredients together. Not only am I lazy, but I don’t own a sifter anyways. So this works for me.

Next you’re going to add your pseudo-sifted flour mixture to the rest of your ingredients. Stir it in gradually… this is probably about halfway through the flour mixture.

Keep going until all of your flour mixture has been added, and blended into the batter.

Add the 1 1/2 cups of chopped peanut butter cups we set aside in step one.

Stir those into the batter. Then you can pour the batter into a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish. Unless you’re like me, and you have a new toy.

Then you’re going to lightly coat your new Bite Sized Brownie Pan with some cooking spray and use a cookie scoop to portion out the batter. Sprinkle the tops with mini Reeses Pieces. I didn’t get any pictures of this step… probably because my hands were messy and I was still wondering if they were going to turn out at all.

But I baked them at 350 for about 35 minutes, and they turned out wonderfully!

Little perfectly portioned brownie bites that were delicious! Even if the pan is decidedly difficult and time consuming to wash.

Fair warning– there may be plenty of brownie recipes coming up in the future. I’ve been looking them up and bookmarking recipes left and right, so you might see quite a few. At least until the novelty of my bite sized pans wears off!

Da Bombe Brownies Peanut Butter Style
1 cup butter, melted
3 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups chopped mini peanut butter cups
1/2 cup mini Reeses pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.

Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the rest of the batter until blended. Stir in the chopped peanut butter cups. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with mini Reeses pieces

Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.