Our Favorite Brownies

I was very tempted recently to try a new recipe on Smitten Kitchen, one of my most favorite foodie websites.

Oh baby! These are the most wonderful brownies I have ever made at home -- and I did it from scratch! I've tried cream cheese brownies before, but sometimes the brownie part leaves something to be desired. By melting chocolate chips with the butter, it makes a better starting point than using cocoa in my mind. Plus, I always have semi-sweet chocolate chips around, but I often run out of cocoa.

I changed the recipe from Smitten Kitchen a bit. I'm pretty cheap, so I use chocolate chips instead of bakers chocolate. Either will probably work, but this is easier for me.

Oh, and did I mention that I whipped these up in less than five minutes, used the same bowl for both batters and had them baked so fast I hadn't even finished licking the bowl clean? My family didn't even bother with plates. They are really that good.

Cheesecake Marbled Brownies

Brownie batter

1 stick butter, cut into pieces

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter

8 oz cream cheese, well softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Topping

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.
3. Melt butter and chocolate chips in the microwave -- about 30-45 seconds was all it took. Combine well.
4. Whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined.
5. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.
6. Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.
7. Sprinkle chocolate chips over cheesecake/brownie batter swirl.
8. Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: Makes 16 2-inch square, thick brownies

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

While our friends were in town, we had planned on having molten chocolate cake which I posted last week.

As is always the case, I found a better recipe just before making it and decided to try it instead. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, it was a huge success. We loved it so much we made it again later in the week. I've tripled the Pioneer Woman's recipe. We baked it in a 9 x 13 pan and just scooped it out and served it with ice cream.

It probably would have been cooler in individual cups, but I don't have twelve of them.

Molten Chocolate Cake -- Pioneer Woman
12 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup butter
3 cups Powdered Sugar
6 whole Eggs
6 whole Egg Yolks
1 cup, 1 ounce Flour

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray 12custard cups (or a 9 x 13) with Pam and place on cookie sheet.
3. Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl on high for about 1 minute, until butter is melted. whisk until chocolate is also melted.
4. Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour.
5. Divide between cups.
6. Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm and center is soft. Let stand 1 minute.

If using a 9 x 13, bake about 2 minutes longer -- 16 minutes should do it.

Warm Melting Chocolate Cake

This recipe came in an email from Carnival Cruise Lines. It sounded good to me -- we'll try it for the first time next week.

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

8 oz semisweet chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

7 eggs, divided use

6 Tbs sugar

1/2 cup flour

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt chocolate and butter; cool 10 minutes.
3. In separate bowl, mix four eggs with sugar.
4. Whisk. Add flour and whisk.
5. Add remaining three eggs.
6. Add egg mixture to chocolate mixture.
7. Pour in individual ramekins.
8. Bake until just done, about 15-20 minutes (interior will be melting).
9. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones

I first tried scones a few years ago at one of those places where you put together dinners to take and bake at a later time. They were pretty good, but a bit dry for me. Since then, I've tried several scone recipes, but fell in love with this one. I'm so in love that I even passed on chocolate chip cookies last night in favor of scones -- unbelievable!

I think a good scone should have chocolate chips. Always love the chocolate. Also, I'm a huge fan of dried cherries. If you aren't, or don't have any on hand, dried cranberries will work too -- just swap them for the cherries in the recipe below. So I modified the beloved recipe to become this -- my favorite recipe for scones:

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones

1 1/2 Tbs freshly grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, cut into 8 or 10 chunks
3 Tbs sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherries

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.

3. In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

4. Add chopped cherries and chocolate chips to flour mixture. Toss to coat.

5. In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

6. Shape scones as desired. Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes, just until they start to turn a light golden brown.
NOTE: Dough can be frozen. I usually divide the batch into two halves and freeze the second half for another day.
Servings: 12

The BEST Chocolate chip cookies

This cookie recipe is the best we've ever had. It's the perfect balance between salty, sweet and chocolatey. They come out having a slightly toffee taste. YUM!

The first trick to making these cookies perfect is to start with butter that's almost to room temperature. It should still be a little cold when you hold it. If it's too warm, the cookies will not raise as well.

The second trick is to combine the butter, white sugar and brown sugar forever. I mean it. It'll take about 7-8 minutes of mixing to get them to a light and fluffy texture. Be sure to scrape down the sides or it won't all get light and fluffy. Don't skimp on this step, or you won't have the toffee taste. When you first put the ingredients in the mixer, the color is a dark tan. By the time it is finished, it should be almost the same color as the butter you started with, but a bit lighter.

Other than those two things, you just dump in the rest of the ingredients.

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
2. Mix butter, sugar and brown sugar until it is light and fluffy
3. Add eggs, vanilla and salt. Cream well, scraping down the sides to make sure it is all incorporated.
4. Add the flour and baking soda.
5. Add the chocolate chips
6. Scoop onto a baking sheet in balls slightly smaller than a golf ball.
7. Bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

In case you fall in love with this recipe and wonder what else could be in the best cookie cookbook ever, this recipe came from Martha Stewart's Cookies.