Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Happy Easter! 

Chocolate anyone??? 

Of course you simply cannot celebrate Easter without chocolate! 

I used Nigella Lawson’s awesome Everyday Brownie recipe as a base and added a cream cheese component. And look what happened… Cheesecake Brownies! Yum…

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:

1 – 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 sticks butter

1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup all purpose unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 

Butter the sides and bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. 

Add the vanilla and the eggs beat until completely mixed scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Set aside. 

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium saucepan, add the brown sugar, and stir to combine. Add the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and the salt stir very well. 

The mixture will be dry. 

Remove from the heat. 

Beat the eggs with the vanilla, add to the mixture in the pan.

Now add the chocolate chips and mix until incorporated. 

Spread the mixture in the prepared baking dish. 

Smooth the batter out and cover with the cream cheese mixture. 

Run a spatula back and forth through the layers of batter so that you get a swirled look. 

Do not over mix. 

Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the edges are set and a cake tester inserted into the center just comes out clean.

This is a link to Nigella's recipe

S'more what??

Every. single. time. I say to my sweet husband, "I am making S'mores!" he immediately responds with,
"S'more what?!?"  

Yes. 

I married a third-grader.

Well, it turns out the joke's on him this time because these awesome{ly easy!} S'more cookies will never leave you wondering what could have been...instead you can taste that gooey, chocolate, marshmallow treat of summer anytime you want!

Here's your ridiculously simple line-up:

{Graham. Sugar cookie mix. Butter. Eggs}

I cannot believe I left out the STAR of this show! Rude!

**Sidenote**

Remember when the blogosphere went all cookie-butter CrAzY in 2011?? 

Speculoos Cookie Butter by Trader Joe's? 

Biscoff Cookie spread?!? 

As with most things on the interwebs, 

fickle foodie bloggers have already moved on- 

and these little gems are the "it girl" of 2012:

{Shown here wearing vanilla for Spring 2012
but also available in pink peppermint!}

I found my Mallow-Bits at Walmart, but they are also at just about any major grocery chain.

And now {drum-roll please} I present you with...

"S'more What?" Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 pkg. sugar cookie mix {I used Betty's}
- 1 sleeve of Graham Crackers {I used low-fat cinnamon but regular is also great}
- 1 stick butter = 1/2 cup butter
- 2 eggs {I only pictured one, but had to add another later}
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 3 oz. {1 can} of Jet-puffed Mallow-bits by Kraft

What to do:

1. Grind up that sleeve of graham cracker crumbs in your food processor/blender/or by beating the crud outta them with a rolling pin like you thought about doing to that guy who dinged your car door at the grocery store...oh, only me??

{Anyone else deeply in love with their food processor??}

2.  Combine graham crumbs and dry sugar cookie mix in a large bowl until it looks like a sandy beach in Tahiti...ahhhh...these cookies are like vacation already!

{Looks more like a Fijian beach to me...}

3. Add those two eggs, and your melty, yummy butter to the dry cookie mixture and mix. mix. mix. This is your triceps workout for the day. You are welcome.

{Could literally swim in it}

4. Add the chips and Mallow-bits until well-incorporated.  Any other recipe would use the words "fold-in" but we know based on the aforementioned triceps workout that we do not need any stinkin' "folding"...we are MIXERS with our rock-hard arm muscles here folks!

{Mallow-bits photo bombing!}

5. Once incorporated eat a few spoonfuls to test place heaping tablespoons of dough on your parchment or greased cookie sheets, about 2-inches apart {these cookies do not spread nearly at all}.

{All lined up and ready to rock!}

6. Bake at 375-degrees for 8-12 minutes until the edges look light brown, but the tops are not gooey.  **NOTE** the Mallow-bits melt a little, but will harden back up once they are out of the oven.

{grrrrreat with hot cocoa or milk!}

Remove from the oven and let sit on the cookie sheets for 5-10 minutes to cool. 

These cookies will keep in a closed container for three or four days. 

{Like they will last that long!}

Chocolate and Toffee Chip Cookies

I was still unpacking boxes and I came across my chocolate cookbook… I wanted chocolate! I looked though my cookbooks and for online recipes and I just wasn’t inspired. Then I saw a bag of chocolate chips in the kitchen cabinet. I thought… “That’s it!" … I want chocolate chip cookies!!! However, just plain chocolate chip cookies simply would not do. These cookies had to be special because by now I really wanted chocolate! So I came up with this recipe and added the yummyness (I think I just invented a word) of English toffee chips to my chocolate chip cookies… Scrumptious!



 

Chocolate and Toffee Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, two sticks, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 - 8 oz package English toffee chips

1 - 10 oz package dark bittersweet chocolate chips (at least 60% cacao)

2 ½ cups flour*

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a stand mixer bowl, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until well incorporated. Add the vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mix to thoroughly combine. Add the chips, stir until completely mixed. Add the flour and mix on low speed until completely incorporated. Do not over beat. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of batter onto an ungreased sheet pan. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the middle of the cookie is just set but still soft.

*High altitude adjustment. If you are baking at sea level, you may only need 2 cups of flour.