Heavenly Cream Cheese Brownies

It all started when I was sifting through my file for cookies to bake. Our son-in-law, Todd, asked about the chocolate-chocolate chip cookies I blogged about 2 weeks ago. I don't suppose Todd reads my blog normally. But my laptop that lives here in the kitchen is the one he uses in the evenings to catch up on his email. My blog was up, front and center last night, so he started glancing through it, spying things he's eaten in the last couple of weeks. He spotted the picture of the cookies. There's just one measly cookie left in the freezer, I was sad to tell him.

So I wanted to make something for him to snack on while he's here. Nothing jumped out at me amongst my stand-bys, so I went to my file. The 100+ clippings I have from over 40 years of saving recipes. I used to be in an annual Christmas cookie exchange, so I have all those recipes. And little slips of paper from friends and acquaintances. Plus the bulk of magazine and newspaper clips, and a few taken from the internet. I had so many that some years ago I had to divide them up by cookie type (chocolate, bars, brownie type, holiday, spice, candy-type, etc.).

(this is my old recipe notebook circa 1965)

But, in looking through the very large stacks, I spied a photo of a cream cheese brownie which brought back a flood of memories. I went to my old binder where I used to hand-write all my favorite recipes. Went right to the page where I had my recipe for "Heavenly Cream Cheese Brownies." The recipe is not there. The yellowed scotch tape is still there, but the recipe, a magazine clipping, is missing.

I knew the name was exactly "Heavenly Cream Cheese Brownies. Figuring I'd find hundreds of listings on the internet, I put in exactly that phrase into my google search box. Nothing. Huh? How can that be? There's a site that tries to recreate or house archives of "lost" recipes. It's called astray. I was certain it would be there. No, not by that name. After spending far too much time looking at various "cream cheese brownie" recipes I went to my cookbooks and figured some of those home-spun cookbooks I have would list this. Nada.

I don't remember what type of chocolate the recipe used, but it seems to me that it was German's sweet chocolate. The method: you poured some of the brownie mixture in the bottom of an 8x8 pan, then poured on the cream cheese batter that had a tad of flour in it (there wasn't enough to cover the chocolate layer), then you blobbed on the last of the chocolate batter, which also didn't cover completely. Then you ran a knife through it to swirl it around. Bake, slice and eat. I always loved that recipe.

I dug out my box of chocolate ingredients. Actually I have more than one, but this one contains the myriad of bar chocolates I use for baking. Thankfully, there was a bar of German's sweet chocolate amidst this pile. I do eat chocolate too. But I diligently limit myself to about 1 ounce when I do. My preference for eating is the low-effective carb bars from Trader Joe's. The dark chocolate type. I wanted to stock up on them (to take on our upcoming trip), but TJ's is currently out of them. Hope that's not permanent.

My guess is that the cream cheese brownies recipe was first published (in a magazine ad) in the 1970's. My recollection is that it was an ad for Knudsen Philadelphia style cream cheese. I remember reading it and thinking, what a novel idea. I tried it right away, and was very pleased with it. Over the years I probably made it more than 20 times. Now, of course, that I don't have the original recipe, I was feeling bereft.

I finally found a recipe on allrecipes for a cream cheese brownie. It does use the German's chocolate, and looks much like the one I remember. And the directions seem to ring a bell. Many of the recipes I found used a brownie mix. I didn't want to do that, since I was sure the chocolate wasn't cocoa, or Hershey's liquid. So I wanted the real thing. So this one, submitted by a gal named Rosina, fit the bill. I also found a couple of recipes on the astray website that called them German's sweet chocolate cream cheese brownies. They're identical to this one, so I think I found the recipe. I'll hope so. Here's the batter all ready for the oven. I did use about 7 ounces of cream cheese. The original recipe calls for just a 3-ounce package. So mine have more of that light cheese swirl.

The report: excellent. They were exactly what I remembered. Bereft no longer, am I.

Cream Cheese Brownies
Recipe: allrecipes.com
Serving Size : 16
4 ounces chocolate -- German sweet bar
5 tablespoons butter
8 ounces cream cheese -- softened
1/4 cup sugar
3 whole eggs
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Melt chocolate with 3 tablespoons of the butter over very low heat. Stir constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool.
2. Cream remaining 2 tablespoons butter with cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Blend into this 1 of the eggs, 1 tablespoon flour and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside.
3. Now beat the remaining 2 eggs until light and fluffy. Gradually beat into them 3/4 cup sugar. Continue beating until thickened. Stir in the baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup flour. Add to this the cooled chocolate mixture. Blend well. Stir in the nuts and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
4. Spread half of the chocolate batter into an 8x8 inch greased baking pan. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the top. Then drop the remaining chocolate batter by tablespoons over the top of the cream cheese mixture. Swirl through batter layers with a spatula for a marbled effect.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in the pan. Cut into squares or bars.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 221 Calories; 14g Fat (56.9% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 21g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 65mg Cholesterol; 142mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Carrot Cake

(photo recipesbymom.net)

My friend Linda T. is a very good cook. We always talk cooking and food and restaurants and all-things-entertaining as part of our conversation. She used to work for the Los Angeles Times (that's how I knew her through the ad agency I co-owned; she was our outside rep).

Maybe one time I mentioned my tried-and-true carrot cake, and she mentioned hers. Then she brought it recently for a get-together. Oh my goodness, was it ever GOOD. Her recipe is better than mine. Maybe one of these days I need to put her recipe and my recipe side by side and compare them. Hers has considerably more pineapple in it than mine, but that just makes it more moist and delicious. I don't know the origin of this cake, but I remember first having "carrot cake" in the late 1950's, or no later than 1960. It was REAL popular back then. Linda, if you're reading and want to comment on the origin of your recipe, that would be lovely. But, 50+ years later there has been no diminishment of carrot cake's popularity. And it's just as good as ever.

Low calorie it is NOT, unfortunately. Delicious it is, though, and I highly recommend you try it. It's not made in the layer format, but in a 9x13 Pyrex dish. Easier. Just as good as a layer cake in my book. And yes it has a cream cheese frosting too. Nothing so different there, even the proportions, whatever. It's just gosh-darned good. And not very many recipes serve 16. You want small portions of this and maybe you can stay out of the pan for seconds. If so, you have more discipline than I do.

Carrot Cake
Recipe: Linda T's recipe, my long-time friend
Servings: 16
CAKE:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 cups grated carrots
20 ounces crushed pineapple -- drained
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
FROSTING:
1/2 cup butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 pounds powdered sugar
1.Preheat oven to 350°. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add sugar, oil and eggs. Mix with a large spoon (do not beat), then add carrots, drained pineapple and walnuts.
2. Pour into a buttered and floured 9 x 13 glass pan, and bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.
3. Frosting: Cream butter, cheese and vanilla. Beat in sifted powdered sugar. If it's too thick add a few drops of milk until it reaches spreading consistency.
4. Frost cake and refrigerate until ready to serve. Refrigerate this cake (because cream cheese could spoil).
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 775 Calories; 39g Fat (44.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 103g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 84mg Cholesterol; 437mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 7 1/2 Fat; 5 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a printable recipe, click title at top.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

(photo: colonialtymesrestaurant.com)

It was a few years ago and we flew from California to Philadelphia to attend the wedding of a young couple, friends. They'd met in San Diego, actually sailed with us on our boat one afternoon soon after they'd met. He was, is, a Navy pilot and close with dear friends of ours from Philadelphia. We thought they made a fine couple and wished them much happiness. The groom's mother prepared a lovely feast for the rehearsal dinner. There were many hands helping in the kitchen, mine among them, and I fell in love with this incredibly easy side dish (or, it could be a main dish as is, or add some protein of some kind too).

I watched as MaryAnn made this sauce - she opened cans of chopped tomatoes, cubed up some cream cheese, chopped some basil, added a tad of wine vinegar, fresh garlic, and olive oil. All this was stirred up in a very large bowl, covered with plastic wrap and left to sit out for about 6 hours. The flavors developed, obviously and the cream cheese kind of dissolved, sort of. At serving time she made a heap of hot penne, combined the sauce and poured it onto a very large platter with additional basil and sprinkled the real-thing Parmesan cheese and it was done. The total amount of actual work in this is about 5 minutes. (I'm not counting the time to cook the pasta, of course.) Maybe 10 max. If you need to hold the sauce for longer, put it in the refrigerator. Just bring it back to room temp before serving. The dish can be served at room temp, actually, but I think it's best hot.

And I'll tell you, this is absolutely fabulous. I've made it many, many times since. It's a cinch for guests. Tastes beyond good. This one is going onto the top FAV's down my right column. It's that good. Thank you, MaryAnn.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Recipe: MaryAnn Quinn, a friend of a friend in Philadelphia
Serving Size : 10 (as a side dish, 4 as main dish)
2 cans tomatoes, canned -- diced with juice
8 ounces cream cheese -- cubed
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 bunch basil -- minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 pound penne pasta
1. Combine all ingredients (except pasta and cheese) in a large bowl, cover and allow to sit for several hours at room temperature.
2. Boil pasta just until barely tender, drain, add sauce to pasta, stir and pour into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle cheese on top and additional basil, if desired.
NOTES : This takes about 5 minutes to prepare the sauce and it's DONE! You can use any kind of pasta, but choose one that will hold some of the sauce (i.e., not linguine or spaghetti) in its crevices. These days it seems odd to let food sit at room temp for several hours, but when I was first served this, it was left out and later served to 30 people without a problem. A double batch was JUST enough (small servings) for 30 with an entree, green salad and ample appetizers. My favorite tomatoes are Muir Glen fire roasted, but any brand will really be fine. Muir Glen is carried at Whole Foods.
Per Serving: 383 Calories; 22g Fat (50.8% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 31mg Cholesterol; 239mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 4 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a printable recipe, click title at top.