On hiatus for the big move

December is normally my favorite baking month, for all the obvious reasons: Christmas tortes, Christmas fudge, Christmas cakes, Christmas candy, Christmas cheesecake...and of course, Christmas cookies. Every year, I spread my own variety of buttery, chocolatey holiday cheer with an assortment of confections, many of which are old favorites that have already built a following amongst my friends. I make Chocolate Crinkles, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Coconut Meringues, Gingerbread People, Russian Tea Cookies: so many of the standard holiday favorites. And naturally, I love to try one or two new recipes to try out.
This year, however, there is a significant change in plans. Instead of cheerfully cloistering myself in my kitchen, I'm packing up my belongings and moving to Seattle. In just a little more than a week, I'll officially give up my identity as a Brooklynite and begin the transformation into a Seattlite, a change for which I'm thoroughly thrilled. But, because a cross-country move is quite...involved, I won't be able to bake my treasured array of Christmas cookies, and therefore, will not be able to blog about them.
Once everything comes together, I'm hoping to have a fully stocked kitchen and a new assortment of taste-testers for my recipes, but in the meantime, the best I can do is report on the Seattle bakeries that I fully intend on patronizing. That, and offer some links to the cookie collections that I would be creating if not for this change of scenery.

Happy baking!

The Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies

Martha Stewart's Cookie of the Day

Betty Crocker's Cookie Exchange

Epicurious' 25 Days of Christmas Cookies

Better Homes and Gardens' Cookie Exchange Favorites

Cheesecake Brownies

There is a serious hole in my world of baking, and I feel that it's about time I filled it (with chocolate, of course). I've made cakes and cookies from scratch, but for some reason, whenever I think of brownies, I always head to the baked goods aisle of the grocery store, where a line up of boxed mixes stare me in the face, tempting me with beautiful photographs of the desserts I could be making. Perhaps this is because, growing up, my brothers and I would frequently make brownies together using these mixes, fighting over who got to stir the batter and who would then lick it off the spoon. The cupboard was consistently stocked with at least three boxes of mix, ranging from the dark chocolate variety, to "chocolate lover," to milk chocolate with chocolate chips. Maybe the choices were not very diverse, but that never mattered; when the oven timer rang, and the aroma of warm chocolate wafted from the kitchen to the living room, where we had gathered for twenty-five to thirty minutes in hungry anticipation with thoughts of moist, hot brownies and a glass of milk, we were in heaven.

My mother could relate a few choice stories from our childhood involving cookie dough and ice cream, but it's the brownie mixes (and their delicious outcomes) that I most remember. No wonder I'm hesitant to move on past Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines.

However, that's precisely what I did this week.

I had a starting recipe for marble cheesecake brownies that was made for some party at some point in the past, but if I remember the original correctly, it was frightfully sub par. So, I made some adjustments, made some additions and subtractions, and I ended up with these Cheesecake Brownies, made especially for my co-worker on her birthday. According to Emily, and my other colleagues, it was a well-amended creation, and a very welcome departure from a boxed mix; these squares are super fudgey with a thick, substantial consistency and the cream cheese topping is light enough to not overwhelm the brownies, but enhances their flavor.

Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup water
1 pkg. (8 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate, divided
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, divided
1/2 cup sour cream
1 pkg. (8 oz.) low fat cream cheese, softened
Semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°f. Microwave butter, water and 2 of the chocolate squares in large microwaveable bowl on high 2 min. or until butter is melted; stir until chocolate is completely melted. Chop remaining 6 chocolate squares; set aside.
In one bowl, combine flour, 1 2/3 cups of the sugar, the baking soda and salt. Add 2 of the eggs and the sour cream; mix well. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Pour into greased and floured baking pan.
Beat cream cheese and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add the remaining egg; mix well. Spoon over chocolate batter and cut through batters with knife several times for marble effect. Sprinkle with the chocolate morsels.
Bake 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.