RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE BROWNIES

There is something really satisfying about making baked goods from scratch—especially those that come from prepackaged mixes at the grocery store, like brownies. It reminds me of the scene in the movie “Castaway” where Tom Hanks’ character finally succeeds in building himself a fire, and he shouts out majestically, “LOOK WHAT I HAVE CREATED!!!”
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I had never made from-scratch brownies before. When I saw this recipe, with the cream cheese filling sandwiched in the middle of two layers of brownie, I was intrigued. And the fact that there are no added chemicals (with the exception of what might be in the store-bought jam) made me happy, too. Not even bleach, because the recipe calls for unbleached AP flour.
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I thought it was a good sign when the brownie batter tasted delicious. I am writing this blog post before I have even tasted the end product…the brownies are baking as I type. But they smell delicious. I suppose I’ll delete the post if they don’t turn out :)
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RASPBERRY CREAM CHEESE BROWNIES
from the Summer 2011 Cook’s Illustrated “Entertaining” magazine:
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Makes 25 (small) brownies
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FILLING:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
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BROWNIES:
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli baking squares)
½ cup raspberry jam, divided (I used Smucker’s Red Raspberry Preserves)
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
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1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8-inch square baking pan with foil, allowing excess to hang over edges. Grease foil.
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2. Process cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla in food processor until smooth. Note: I used a handmixer…didn’t feel like dirtying up the food processor.
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3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Microwave butter and chocolate in a large bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, about 1 minute. Whisk in ¼ cup jam and let cool slightly.
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4. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla to chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. Whisk in flour mixture until incorporated.
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5. Microwave remaining ¼ cup jam until warm—15 to 30 seconds.
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6. Scrape half of brownie batter into prepared pan. Spread into even layer. Dollop cream cheese filling over brownie batter and spread into even layer. Dollop jam over filling and using tip of knife, gently swirl jam through filling. Spread remaining brownie batter evenly over filling.
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7. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few dry crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan and cut into 1 ½ inch squares. Serve.

Italian Vinaigrette

I bought some baby lettuce at the farmers market this weekend. What better occasion to make a homemade vinaigrette? At Christmas time, Santa placed a new vinaigrette holder from Williams-Sonoma in my stocking. It has a little whirly-gig that supposedly emulsifies the settled dressing. I still shook it. I'm less impressed with the fact that it has the whirly-gig and more impressed that the bottle has four different recipes printed right on it. Haaaaaaaaaaandy. This was my new bottle's debut.

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Now, the key to a good vinaigrette is really just one thing, in my opinion: good quality extra-virgin olive oil. Lucky for me I now have a subscription to "Cooks Illustrated." Lucky for me there are literally hundreds of products taste-and-quality tested by the people who run Cooks Illustrated. Lucky for you that I will share my learning with you for free. So, at Meijer, I purchased a big bottle of one of their "recommended" brands of olive oils: Colavita. Had I remembered the "highly recommended" winner-of-the-taste-test brand: Columela, I would have looked to see if they carry it.

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ANYWAY, back to the vinaigrette. It turned out LOVELY. And all the salad consisted of was baby lettuce & vinaigrette. In addition to flavor, this is what is so great about this recipe: I know exactly what is in it (as in NO preservatives or gloopy, gloppy, "stuff"); the recipe does not make an enormous amount that will eventually end up in the garbage; the ingredients are all items I typically have on hand. I thought the vinaigrette was excellent last night, and I thought it was even better this evening after the minced garlic had the chance to swim around in the oil for awhile.

Italian Vinaigrette
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1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon dry italian herb blend (I used Penzey's of course)

1 teaspoon dijon mustard (optional...but I love this addition)

salt & pepper to taste

12 Treats of Christmas: #12 Santa's Cut-Out Cookies

The twelth and final treat to share is the recipe for the cookies we leave for Santa. The only sugar cookie recipe I have ever known, it has been made over and over for as long as I can remember. Before I owned a KitchenAid mixer, I used to dread the mixing that had to take place by hand...you can only go so far in this recipe with a hand-mixer. Now, making the dough is a snap! Since I already blogged the recipe here, I will share the recipe I use for the frosting. I learned to make it simply by watching my mom. The "recipe" consists of only three ingredients: powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk...although, I swear my mom used to add in some butter, too. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I'm sure she'll comment here to tell me her thoughts on that.

FROSTING FOR SUGAR COOKIES

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Food coloring

Begin by putting powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Add vanilla. Add milk ONE TABLESPOON AT A TIME, until you make a nice, spreadable consistency. Frost the cookies, add some sprinkles, and allow to "dry."

DID YOU KNOW: If your cookies (these cookies or ANY type of cookie) become hard...or if you cooked them too long and didn't burn them, but they cool more crispy than you would like, put them in a container or ziplock with a slice of bread. The cookies will soften!

12 Treats of Christmas: #11 Mini Mint Kiss Pies

Oh my goodness. I’ve found a new blog to love. Just like my love of collecting cookbooks, I’ve started “collecting” cooking blogs. Who are these people who are not only talented in the kitchen, but talented behind a camera lense, too? Right now I religiously follow Pioneer Woman, Smitten Kitchen, How Sweet It Is, and Tasty Kitchen (sister blog to PW). There are many others that I know are out there and waiting, but there is just not enough time in the day. Of course, once you see them, you’ll understand what a complete amateur I am, but at least I can be your resource, right? Anyway, I was feverishly entering a blog giveaway ($250 Best Buy gift card…I’ll let you know if I win LOL) and I fell on Picky Palate and this recipe. Read the recipe below then jump on over here to see the step-by-step pictures that accompany this recipe and made me want to make Kiss Pies immediately.

MINI MINT KISS PIES

1 refrigerated pie crust, thawed

14 Mint Truffle Hershey Kisses

1 egg white whisked with 1 tablespoon water

Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Roll out pie dough onto a lightly floured counter top.

3. Place a kiss on the pie dough and cut a 2 ½ to 3 inch circle around it with a knife (or find an appropriately sized glass and use the mouth to “cut” around the kiss. *Be strategic about where you place the kisses so that you can maximize use of your dough!

4. For first fold, bring opposite sides of circle up together (as if you’re creating a taco). Pinch the two edges around top of kiss.

5. Now, fold up the other two sides of remaining dough up to the tip of the kiss pinching edge. Now press together all touching edges (will look like a square envelope with a kiss inside.

6. Continue cutting dough around kisses until all dough is used up & repeating steps 4 & 5; you can get between 10-14 rounds cut, especially if you re-roll your scraps.

7. Brush all little “pies” with egg white wash, then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

8. Bake for 20-28 minutes or until little pies are golden. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

9. Dust each with powdered sugar and serve.

12 Treats of Christmas: #10 Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

I used to not like any type of nut at all. While I still don’t like ANY type of nut in ANY cookie (bars, sometimes; cookies—never), I have certainly expanded my horizons to include some delicious recipes that include nuts. Pecans are the main ingredient here—the highlight. And I love them. Although, I would say it might be hard to not like anything that is smothered in cinnamon and sugar!

These package up so nicely. Delicious and festive, how can you go wrong?

CINNAMON SUGAR PECANS

1 lb. pecan halves

1 egg white

1 Tablespoon water

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. Mix sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside.

3. In another bowl, beat egg white and water with electric mixer until frothy, but not stiff. Add pecans and mix to coat.

4. Add sugar, salt, cinnamon mixture to pecans. Mix.

5. Spread on large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

6. Package to give away, or serve in a decorative bowl.

12 Treats of Christmas: #9 French Silk Pastry Puffs

In brainstorming an easy way to make the absolutely AMAZING French Silk Pie recipe that follows into an individual treat recipe, I simply needed to determine the best crust. There are several ways one could go here—and most of them can be found in the chilled or frozen sections of the supermarket. You could use the little individual tart shells (the same ones you would use if you were making individual quiches), or you cut up a refrigerated pie crust and shape the dough into individual pie shells in a mini-muffin tin. You could easily use the Tiny Holiday Tart crust recipe in Treat #8. You could use wonton wrappers pressed into muffin tins—they bake into a tasty, thin, crispy shell—or phyllo dough, which does the same thing.

None of my ideas seemed special enough, and this French silk is very special. Then, I thought of it: Puff Pastry. Do you know why puff pastry is so delightful? It has to do with layers and layers of paper-thin pastry dough separated by butter. And when baked, the steam let off by the butter and moisture in the dough cause it to puff into rich, buttery light-as-air goodness. Now, making puff-pastry shall be left to highly trained, highly paid pastry chefs. Luckily we can buy puff pastry in the freezer section! Even more exciting for this particular recipe is that Pepperidge Farm makes Puff Pastry Shells. Perfect!! I found the vessel which shall carry the silk!

My mom introduced me to this recipe. She included it in a cookbook she wrote for me as a Christmas gift “Recipes from Mom’s Kitchen and Stories from her Heart.” Don’t your eyes just tear up at reading the title? Anyway…she notes that “this recipe for French Silk Chocolate Pie first appeared in 1951, when it won $1000 in a bake-off contest.”

FRENCH SILK CHOCOLATE PUFFS

½ cup (one stick) butter, cut into 8 equal parts

¾ cup sugar

1 square (1 ounce) UNSWEETENED chocolate, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

12 Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells (found in the frozen section)

Instructions:

First, prepare pastry shells as directed on package. Cool completely.

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in chocolate and vanilla until well-blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with an electric mixer at medium speed, for FIVE MINUTES after EACH addition. Chill.

Just before you plan to serve the finished product, pipe equal amounts of filling into each pastry shell. While not necessary, you might garnish by drizzling with chocolate or a dollop of whipped cream.

NOTES:

• You may substitute 1 tablespoon oil mixed with 3 tablespoons baking cocoa if you don't have any unsweetened squares. We have done this many times and the outcome is equally delightful every time!
• If you want to make this into a pie, bake your favorite pie crust recipe (or store-bought) and fill it with the prepared filling.

12 Treats of Christmas: #8 Tiny Holiday Tarts

This recipe came from a friend of mine who also enjoys cooking and baking—probably as much as I do. She included these cute little tarts in the tin of treats that she gave our family, and then was generous enough to share the recipe with me. I haven’t had a chance to try making them yet, but I did taste the Pecan Pie Filling version and the Brownie-Nut Filling version. On the copy of the recipe there were a couple of other fillings that sounded interesting, so I am including them, too!

TINY HOLIDAY TARTS
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
Desired Filling

In a small mixer bowl beat together butter and cream cheese. Stir in flour. Cover and chill about 1 hour or until easy to handle. Shape into 1 inch balls. Press onto the bottom and up sides of un-greased mini-muffin cups (1 ¾ inch). Fill each with 1 rounded teaspoon of filling. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until done. Cool slightly in pan. Remove and cool well. Makes 24.
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Pecan Pie Filling: Beat together 1 egg, ¾ cup packed brown sugar; 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans.
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Brownie-Nut Filling: In a small saucepan heat and stir ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces and 2 tablespoons butter or margarine over low heat until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in 1/3 cup sugar, 1 beaten egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Place a whole filbert or peanut in each pastry. Top with 1 rounded teaspoon chocolate mixture.
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Almond-Raspberry Filling: Divide ¼ cup red raspberry preserves among pastries (about ½ teaspoon each). Beat together 1 egg, ½ cup sugar, and ½ cup almond paste (crumbled). Spoon 1 level teaspoon of the almond mixture over the preserves. Sprinkle with coarsely chopped sliced almonds. If desired, drizzle cooled baked tarts with additional raspberry preserves.
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Pumpkin-Sour Cream Filling: Beat together 1 egg, ½ cup canned pumpkin, 1/3 cup sugar, ¼ cup dairy sour cream, 1 tablespoon milk, and ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. If desired, pipe or dollop whipped cream on cooled baked tarts. This one would be fun to serve at Thanksgiving time!