Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake

This always happens to me...I am searching for a recipe (this time it was for an Oreo type cookie) and come across at least a few others I want to try. I file them into my folder of recipes I want to try and usually don't get to them. This time I was determined not to let that happen again because I found a recipe that made my heart jump a couple of beats....

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake.

You have to check out the page on where I found it because it has really nice pictures and the full recipe there. I took a couple of pictures of my cheesecake just out of the oven and once I put the ganache onto it.

Just out of the oven

With the ganache onto....yummy!

Review: For the most part this was an easy recipe to make but it is just time consuming because of all the part. I made the brownie part of it Thursday night and put it in the refrigerator. Friday I made the rest of the cheesecake parts. No part was really that complicated in fact my neighbor told me the brownies were the best brownies she ever had (Baker's One Bowl Brownie)...I brought over the extras for our Friday night get together. I don't think there is anything I would do different because it tasted really good as is and I think everyone at the party liked it. The ganache part was perfect because as you can see from my out of the oven picture I got a few cracks that those were covered right up by the ganache. The ganache recipe also makes just the perfect amount to go on top. Heidi wants me to make it bring to my Mom's house for the holidays coming up...so I think this one is a keeper!

Another Use for Black Beans

I felt like experimenting this week and Heidi sent me the perfect recipe for that desire. She participated in Bake 350 Flavor of the Month and this was a recipe from that event. I wanted to make it and see if Mike could guess the secret ingredient but he saw the recipe on the refrigerator.




Black Bean Brownies (Makes an 8" square pan or 12 muffin size)

From SnoWhite of Finding Joy in My Kitchen

1 can (15.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 eggs
3 Tbl. olive oil
¼ cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" baking pan with non-stick spray, or line 12 wells of a muffin tin with foil liners.

Place the well-rinsed and drained black beans into a blender. Add eggs and olive oil to blender, then puree until smooth. You may need to stop the blender and scrape a few times. There will be some fragments of black bean skins still in the puree, but they won't be noticeable once the brownies are baked. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT chocolate chips to blender. Pulse a few times to get things started, then continue to blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of blender as needed.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan or divide among the 12 prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake 8" pan for about 30 minutes, or the brownie muffins for about 20-22 minutes. Brownies will start to pull away from the edge of the pan when they are done. Brownies will be quite tender and moist, so refrigerate or freeze after a day or so--they won't keep long on the counter.

Review: You really can't tell that there are black beans in the batter for the most part. I think since I knew they were in there I was looking for that taste. They sort of reminded me of passover brownies in a way but defiantly a great substitute for regular brownies if you need to go gluten free. This would not replace real brownies but I think I would make them again in the future.

Zucchini and A Lot of it...

When we were at Jenn's house on Saturday she gave us each a HUGE zucchini to take home with us. I was happy to take it because this year my garden isn't really producing right now...things are growing but not big enough to pick. Of course this happens the year I found a bunch of recipes I want to try out using zucchini and I have none from my own garden yet. I also refuse to buy in the store since I know I will have some eventually.

Since all the recipes I wanted to make calls for shredding I decided to make it easy on myself. I broke out my food processor. Well to my surprise I got a total of 10 cups of shredded zucchini.

I decided since I had so much I was going to try out the Zucchini brownies Jenn make and another recipe I found out there in the world of blogs: zucchini cakes on The Pinoeer Woman Cooks blog. Check out her blog for the recipe and pictures of the whole process. Below are my pictures of the finished product.


Review: I have to say right off the bat this one is a keeper! It was easy to make and the flavor was really good. The recipe calls for 1 large zucchini shredded. Honestly I don't know how big a large zucchini is because if you get one from a home garden...well lets just say it could be a baseball bat. The ones from the supermarket are usually much smaller and a large one there is really a small one from the garden. So I used about 3 cups but I think next time I might try to use a little bit more. I would have this time but the baby woke up and I had to put the mixture in the refrigerator until I had time to cook them. I also used Italian flavored bread crumbs because that was all I had and I used grated Parmesan cheese.

Anniversary Brownie Time....KAF Fudge Brownie

I can't believe it has been 9 years since Mike proposed to me. Time really does fly by when you are having fun. This year I decided to keep it simple and just make plain old fudge brownies. So Mike suggested I try the ones from King Arthur. He also thought it was funny that they KAF Guaranteed...he had some joke about it but I blocked it out .
Fudge Brownies
King Arthur Flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 15 3/4 ounces sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 3 3/4 ounces Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 1/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 12 ounces chocolate chips

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

2) In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

3) While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.

4) Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

5) Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

6) Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.

7) Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

Review: I don't know what to say but these are really good fudge brownies. Now I know why they are guaranteed to come out great. I would make these again and I don't think anything needs to be changed. When i was reading the reviews on the KAF website it got 4 1/2 stars...and all the most recent have been 5 stars...so I wanted to see who gave it anything less. When there was one that was really funny and Mike has been quoting it to everyone. The one I liked was someone complained that it was almost like eating fudge...hello when the title of the recipe has the word fudge in it...i hope they are more like fudge then anything else.

February Chocolate Recipe: Fudgy Brownies

What other food or theme could you have in February other than chocolate?! When the "Valentine edition" of KAF email came through and I saw the pictures of their Fudge Brownies, I KNEW, this was the recipe I was going to make for February! The reviews on KAF's website were extremely positive, so I figured I would make them and bring them to my sister-in-laws. Yummy!


Fudgy Brownies

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.
2) In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
3) While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.
4) Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
5) Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.
6) Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.
7) Bake the brownies for about 35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

Review: I actually have to say that these are the best brownies I have ever had! I don't usually make brownies from scratch (don't honestly see the point, after the box comes out perfectly every time!), but I think these brownies will be enough to sway me if I have the time to make them. A few things I changed or amended. Original cook time was 30 minutes. Per other reviewers on KAF's website, they all said 35 worked better for them and I agree. I also poured half of the chocolate chips into the hot batter and let them melt (and mixed) and then waited and poured in the other half, so there were some chips to eat as well. I really liked this and could easily have done the full amount of chips once the mixture cooled down for more chips in each bite. These really were fab brownies and I encourage all to try them!!

Yummy Brownies

We had our Grand Opening at the salon Friday night. It was nice, everyone made something yummy and a bunch of clients came by to celebrate with us. I of course was asked to make the desert so I chose to make these awsome brownies. These are so easy and OMG..so good. Everyone complimented me on them and asked how I made them. Its so easy, all you do is:

Bake a box brownie mix ( family size ) in a 9x12 pan. Let cool completely ( I put in fridge til cooled ). Icing with white or vanilla icing and put back in fridge. Melt 2 cups ( one small bag ) chocolate chips and 1 cup peanut butter in sause pan. In another bowl measure out 3 cups rice krispy cereal. When the Chocolate and peanut butter is all melted and smooth, pour into bowl with rice krispys. Mix so all the cereal is covered w/ chocolate. Spread over brownies and put back in fridge to harded.

These are very sweet and look like it was harder to do then it actually is. I highly recommend them for your next party =)

Zucchini Brownies

Ok, so I am not in anyway trying to steal Michelle's thunder for finding this recipe/blog... http://recipehunterlisa.blogspot.com/2007/08/zucchini-brownies.html - but as I was making dinner last night, I thought, "hey! this recipe seems really easy, why don't I give it a try?!" I had this huge zuke in the fridge from a farmer's market I had stopped at a week before. I also decided not to tell Rocco about the "secret ingredient," because I didn't want him to judge it before he tasted it. I have to say that I was a bit reluctant at first to taste it.

So before I give my review, a few notes about when I was making it. First, I had a 1.5' long zuke that I only needed maybe 6 inches of (it was 3 inches in diameter) to make the 2 cups of shredded zuke called for in the recipe. I also peeled it (although the recipe didn't say one way or the other). I used the metal 4-sided grater with the "medium-size" holes to grate it - was very easy and I tried to avoid the seeds, which wasn't a problem at there was so much zucchini!

The other thing of note, was that the batter was extremely dry once it was all mixed together and I was worried that the blogger forgot milk or some liquid to make it moist. I put it in the oven anyhow - figured it was too late to turn around at that point!

Review: Ok, first and foremost, let me say that it is probably one of the best brownies I have ever had! LOL I can't believe I am typing or saying that! It was really tasty. Not dry at all (despite how it looked going into the pan) - very moist and you don't taste zucchini at all. Rocco was totally surprised when I told him what the secret ingredient was. The frosting is perfect for this brownie. I don't think it necessarily looks like the nicest brownie, but that's probably why the frosting is put on top. So, if you can get over the fact that there is zucchini in it, you will be in for a truly tasty dessert treat! ENJOY!

Engagement Brownie Time

About 7 years ago when Mike proposed to me...he made me brownies and wrote in frosting will you marry me. I told him that he was now obligated every year at the end of July to make me brownies. Well that happened maybe the first 3 years of marriage and now nothing....

So I am taking matters into my own hands and bringing back to life the brownie tradition. I think every year I will experiment with a new brownie recipe. I really want to make something more the just a plain brownie this year. Any ideas? Right now I found a million recipes on Very Best Baking's website...so many to choose from.

Update: I think I found that recipe I want to make...Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich The parents are coming over Saturday for a little BBQ and I wanted to make something with ice cream because it is summer but I really wanted to make my brownies....perfect combination if you ask me!

Super Fudgy Brownies

So, every time Mike has to work on his truck and he says it's only going to talk an hour or two, it usually takes about three or four. So, after I went for a walk I decided to try to make the brownie recipe I read in Everyday Food magazine. I had to find out if they were really super and fudgy. Well, all I can say is yummmmmmmy!! Below is the recipe.

Ingredients

* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
* 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 3 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes, remove bows from pan. Add sugar, mix to combine. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture, mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Transfer, batter to prepared pan, smooth top.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). On a cutting board, using a dampened serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.