Cream Cheese Brownies

I love brownies, I love cheesecake- and I love them even more together. Enjoy!

Brownie Base
2/3 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
8 Tbsp. butter cut into quarters
1 C. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Cream Cheese filling
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8-inch baking pan with foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water- melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla and sugar. Whisk in eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated.

For the cream cheese filling: beat the ingredients together in a small bowl until evenly blended.

Pour half the batter in the pan, drop half the cream cheese mixture, by spoonfuls, over the batter. Repeat, layering the remaining batter and cream cheese filling. Use the blade of a knife to gently swirl the brownie batter and cream cheese for a marbling effect.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the brownies have puffed slightly and a toothpick comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool on a wire rack and in the refrigerator until chilled (probably about hours).

Courtesy of "The New Best Recipe"/Cooks Illustrated
photo: We had nine dinner guests last night and the brownies were gone well before I thought to take a picture. So I have borrowed one: dinneranddessert.wordpress.com

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

I love cookies. Chris loves cookies, and these are some of our favorites. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with coconut and pecans. When I make these I have to give them away or I will end up eating all of them. This time I decided to make these jumbo sized and they turned out just as well as regular sized- in fact I think they turned out better.














Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Spray your baking sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper (I always just line mine with parchment paper because we have a "vintage" oven and it cooks unevenly- the parchment paper seems to help with that).

Stir together the flour, baking soda, kosher salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Stir together the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl. In another large bowl beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy and blended. Add the egg mixture in two additions and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Reduce the speed to low, slowly add the dry ingredients, and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Stir in the oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheets (when I did the jumbo sized cookies I fit 6 on a sheet- normally I could fit 12).

Bake until the edges of the cookies are golden and the centers are barely cooked, about 10 minutes. (Even with the jumbo cookies they will still be ready in about 10 minutes). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 to 3 minutes then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe makes 4 dozen regular cookies or 2 dozen jumbo.

Adapted from Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook

Strawberry Scones

Sometimes I get a little carried away when I'm in the fruit section of Costco- everything looks so appealing that sometimes I forget that we can only consume so many servings of fruit per day. Take last weekend for example- I saw a tray of delicious red strawberries calling my name. We got them home; snacked on them, sliced them over cereal, made smoothies... and last night I realized that I still had half of this ginormous tray of strawberries to do something with before they went bad. So I made these. And they were delicious.


Strawberry Scones
(Courtesy of: http://confessionsoftart.blogspot.com/2009/03/strawberry-scones.html)

1 cup strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, in cubes, slightly softened
2/3 cup half-and-half or cream or cold buttermilk -- I used cream
(I also added about a tablespoon of orange zest and it was a great addition)

Topping:1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Sprinkle fruit with1/2 tablespoon sugar; set aside (be sure to make the pieces small).
Combine remaining sugar with flour, baking powder (and 1/4 tsp of salt if you're using unsalted butter). Add butter, using a pastry cutter or 2 knives to cut in butter. Stir in fruit; then add cream/half-and-half/buttermilk. Use spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients. Be gentle so you don't break up the berries and don't overwork the dough.

Pat the dough into a circle 3/4 inch thick. Cut circle into 6-8 wedges, then transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch ofspace between them. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and bake 5-10 more minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown and spring back when you push them.

I had a difficult time getting the dough together and not mashing the berries-- I'm going to try making these with chocolate chips next time.

(this is obviously not my photo but, minus the floral arrangement, they looked the same)

Caesar Lite Salad

I had this salad at a dinner party a few months ago and have been making it ever since.


Croutons:
1 loaf of French bread- crust trimmed and cut into smallish cubes
1/3 C. olive oil
1 tsp. garlic

Blend olive oil and garlic in food processor or blender. Toss with bread cubes. Place on baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, until lightly browned.


Dressing:
2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. lemon zest (finely chopped lemon peel)
1 tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2/3 C. olive oil
Blend all ingredients except olive oil. Slowly whisk in olive oil.

Chop 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce and wash thoroughly. Toss with dressing and croutons. Top with grated parmesan cheese. (www.foodnetwork.com)

Crab Cakes

So I got this recipe from Paula Deen and was surprised to learn you did not have to use 100 sticks of butter to make it. I was a little nervous of these but they turned out really good and were really easy to make. I would highly recommend them. Sorry I don't have a picture but they look like your standard crab cake.
Ingredients

• 1 pound crabmeat, picked free of shells
  
• 1/3 cup crushed crackers (I used ritz)
  
• 3 green onions (green and white parts), finely chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper (I used a red bell pepper)
  
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard (I just used regular grey pupoun because I didn't have any dry)
  
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Dash cayenne pepper
• Flour, for dusting
• olive oil (for frying)
  
• Favorite dipping sauce, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients, except for the flour and olive. Shape into patties and dust with flour.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, carefully place crab cakes, in batches, in pan and fry until browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip crab cakes and fry on other side until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Serve warm with preferred sauce.

To make these a little bit more budget friendly (if you are worried about that) I used imitation crab meat and I couldn't tell the difference. I put the crab meat in the food processor so that it got shredded up and was not in big chunks. Also, I added extra crackers (between 8-10) because it was really saucy so that the patties would stick together better.

I hope this makes sense. Enjoy!

Parchment Paper Salmon

Maybe everyone else is already familiar with this method of cooking but it was a new and wonderful discovery for me. You layer the ingredients in a large folded piece of parchment paper, fold the edges over and let it steam away in the oven. Mike and I absolutely love this recipe. And it's from Martha Stewart so it has to be good, right?


1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, rinsed well and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large russet potato, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 ounces baby spinach
2 (6 ounce) fillets salmon, 1 1/2-inch thick, skinned
1 lemon, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a rimmed baking sheet in oven to heat. Cut parchment to size.
2. Stir together butter, capers, parsley, and garlic in a small bowl;
3. Divide potato slices between parchment rectangles, layering them in stacks to form a bed.
4. Top each bed of potatoes with one quarter of the shallots followed by half the spinach. Place salmon fillets on top of spinach. Divide remaining shallots evenly between packets. Top each salmon fillet with 2 lemon slices Dot with caper butter; season with salt and pepper.
5 Fold parchment paper over ingredients, at the crease. Starting with one end of the paper and keeping edges together, make small overlapping pleats the length of the paper, creasing tightly as you go and shaping the edge into an arc.

6. Bake until packets have puffed, 15 to 18 minutes.



I'll admit this doesn't look beautiful but it is delicious.

Apple and Onion Pork Chops

(Sorry this isn't my pic, I forgot to take one - but I just had to share the recipe. We had a lot more topping on ours - but it basically looked like this.)

So I am all about recipes that are quick, simple, delicious and that I already have all the ingredients for. Saturday night I came home wondering what I was going to cook in 30 min (bedtime was approaching for Avery) with limited ingredients. I came across a little recipe on online and was able to modify it just enough to work. It was fantastic!

3 pork chops
1 large apple
1/2 large white onion
brown sugar
butter
salt
garlic
olive oil
rice (optional)

I don't know the exact proportions because i just through it together based on a rough idea of what it was supposed to be - but it turned out great.

Rub salt, garlic, and pepper into the pork chops. Pan fry them in a generous amount of olive oil. Be generous with the salt and garlic. You want the salty taste of the chops to be offset by the sweet topping.

Chop up the onion and apple into small squares. Saute in a pan with a large chunk of butter. Once they have started to cook down a bit, add in about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and a few shakes of salt. Let it all cook down until you have a think and delicious apple and onion combo.

Place the pork chops on a plate and top with the apple onion topping. We ate this with buttery rice and it was fantastic.

Just a little super easy gem of a dinner. Yum.

Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus is always a staple at our Easter feasts, so what better way to kick off April with this lovely side dish.

The past few times I have cooked asparagus I have been roasting it and I love it. It is addictive and this is how I have done it:

Roasted Asparagus

1 bunch of asparagus- I like the skinny spears
Olive Oil
Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
Parmesan Cheese

Lay the asparagus on a baking sheet, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with the salt and pepper and cheese. Cook at 450ºF for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy. This is equally delicious without the Parmesan- I actually liked it better with just the salt and pepper. However, Chris is a cheese man so I tried it both ways.