Brownies!

With  Mom's help today, I combined some recipes and made Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies.  It was my first time ever making homemade brownies(*see note), and I couldn't believe how easy they are to make.  I'm embarrassed that I ever used a mix!

Another first was that, to keep from heating up the kitchen, I baked them in my toaster oven.  A blogger I follow  had made brownies in her toaster oven once, and I was rather startled.  I thought it was just an appliance for melting cheese on nachos and toasting bread!

(Imagine my surprise when Mom informed me that she has been making her biscuits and cornbread in her toaster oven for quite some time.  Where have I been?!?!)

They turned out perfect in the toaster oven, the kitchen didn't get too hot (except for when Mom insisted on washing the dishes and heating up the kitchen anyway) and my recipe chimera turned out fantastic!

Chimera Brownies

Here is our version of the recipe; I used gluten free flour and added a dash of xantham gum (which I have been reliably informed equals 1/8 teaspoon).

Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla; add eggs.  Mix well with whisk.  Mix dry ingredients; add to wet ingredients.  Put half to three-quarters of the brownie mix in the bottom of a  9 inch greased pan.

1/2 block softened cream cheese (save some just in case)

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together with electric mixer until well blended (add more cream cheese if needed to thicken--I needed a bit more to balance off my large egg); pour on top of brownie mixture.  Marble in remaining brownie mixture.

Bake in non-preheated oven on 350 for 20-25 minutes.
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*note:
Mom says she remembers me making brownies in my teens, particularly Texas Brownies, the ones that use strong coffee.  I remember baking many things from scratch: bread, cakes, petit fours, pies, cookies; just not brownies.  Mom's memory is to be trusted on this, and I've no doubt that I did make brownies.  In an embarrassing confession, I'll admit that as a result of my current medical difficulty, I experience hulking great chunks of lost memories (past and semi-present).  This happens to be one of them.  So, while I have obviously made brownies from scratch in the past, I have not made brownies from scratch and this was my very first time.  Hopefully that makes sense.

Spring Sampler: Completed!

Finished the final week of the Spring Sampler last night.  I was sorry to finish it.  Such a cute project!  Hopefully they will do summer and autumn ones too!

Completed project; I really like it on the pale blue.

The puff balls were my favorite of the entire sampler!

Allergies have beaten me down all week, so I've done very little.  The dishes are backed up, and I just finished the laundry in time to start it again.  I finished listening to a disappointing audio book (A is for Alibi); I had hoped it would be a series I would enjoy, as there are quite a few, but alas.  It has certainly been a better week than last week though. :)

I did make mints, though, from this recipe.  They were quite good, though they didn't turn out exactly like the recipe/pictures made them look.  Gave me an idea to create another recipe from them, though, which is exciting as I never experiment with recipes.

  St. John is eight months now!  Time certainly does fly by!