Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownie Bites

First a warning, do not make these without muffin liners! I didn't have liners and didn't want to wait till I did to try this recipe. The result was a gooey delicious mess that I couldn't extract from the tin without making a mess.

My liner-free brownies...

And what they were supposed to look like...

Moving on...


Prepare your brownie mix as directed on the package.
Pour batter into prepared tin with liners
Do not fill more than halfway, you need to leave room for the cream cheese and raspberry

Cream Cheese Filling
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extravt

Blend together until smooth. Pour about 1-2 tablespoons on top of each brownie

Then top with raspberry preserves. I didn't measure this, I just used as much as would fit :)

bake at 350 for 25-27 minutes. It's a little hard to tell when these are done. I took mine out at 25 minutes, next time I might go for 27 as mine were pretty gooey! I also had left over cream cheese filling so I poured that into a little dish and baked it with left over raspberry filling :)

I can't wait to make these again, WITH a liner!

Rich Chocolate Cake Bars

 (Picture and recipe taken from allrecipes)

 
This week I've had the wonderful problem of needing to use up all the chocolate in the house before we move in a few days. I found a recipe that uses up 16oz of chocolate syrup and FOUR eggs. Considering we still have almost 2 dozen eggs this recipe made a good dent in my stash. I also doubled the butter called for, quite by accident. But since the idea here is to use EVERYTHING up, it was probably a good idea in retrospect. The recipe posted is for the original amount of butter. These came out great and were extremely fast and easy to make. I wasn't sure we could eat this much chocolate cake... but with the stress of moving we seem to be making good headway :D

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (16 ounce) chocolate syrup
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• GLAZE:
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large mixing, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in syrup. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture an mix well. Stir in nuts. Pour in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. For glaze, combine the sugar, milk and butter in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil for 1 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat. Add chips and vanilla; beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Spread over warm bars. Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Sandy's Chocolate Cake

Sandy was the winner of the Hershey's Chocolate Cake challenge a few years ago at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. I think she should just re-submit this cake every year as I can't imagine any could top this recipe! If you don't want a giant seven pound three layer cake you could cut back the recipe 1/3 for a 2 layer cake or in half for a 13x9. It's best with ice cream of course. Oh, and if you don't use all the frosting called for you really ought to add more ;) A certain lucky little boy had this cake for his second birthday.

• 3 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 1 1/3 cups boiling water
• FROSTING:
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 3 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
• 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, cream brown sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add alternately with sour cream to creamed mixture. Mix on low just until combined. Stir in water until blended. Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. For frosting, in a medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Cool several minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Add chocolate mixture and beat until smooth. Frost cooled cake. 

EDIT: I've made this cake three times now. Most recently it baked in only 25 minutes. I'm not sure if the oven was just running hot that day or if I made a mistake setting the timer, but you might want to check the cake 10 minutes early just in case.

 This is also good with a vanilla whoopie filling in between the layers, like the filling found here...

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whoopie-pies-vii/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=whoopie%20filling&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e13=A%3aSearch%20Results-List%28control%29&e7=Recipe

Homemade Oreos

The next time you find yourself with some extra time (and butter!) on your hands you must make this. Wow do they taste like the real thing! I often have a hard time with cookies that have to be cut out, but these roll out very easily! I placed the dough in between two sheets of aluminum foil for rolling. They didn't stick to the counter or the rolling pin.

Recipe adapted (by me!) from the Smitten Kitchen and Bless This Mess

Dough
1 1/4 cups butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa  powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour

Filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (crisco)
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract  


Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix until you get a pretty dry dough. You don't want the dough to be sticky at all and it might even crumble just a little.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll your dough out between two pieces of parchment paper or aluminum foil.. Roll the dough thin, 1/4 inch to an 1/8 inch thick. Use a 2 inch circle cutter to cut out the cookies. (I used the top of a baby bottle!) Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8. Take off pan after two minutes.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. (or use a ziplock baggie with a corner cut out) Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

A typical Friday night for us usually entails a large group of buddies crowding into our little living room, enjoying some party tunes and rowdy board games. Snacks are always well-received, but this special recipe was a true hit. They were DEVOURED. And the best part is--this recipe is super quick to put together!

No-Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies (all due credit here)
Yield: 2 to 3 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooling Time: 30 minutes

½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats

1. Add the first four ingredients (through the cocoa powder) to a 4-quart saucepan.
2. Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth, then stir in the oats.
5. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper-lined baking sheets.
6. Let cool until set.