Brownies | My Foray Into Food Storage

I am not a “fancy” person. While I like dressing up and attending formal events on occasion, I am a pretty regular gal. I rarely do fancy things for holidays, other than making a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, so it must be a super, special occasion or I’ve had a rare, but sudden, burst of inspiration if I make something fancy and pretty.

While Valentine’s Day is not my favorite holiday, I had the aforementioned sudden burst of inspiration and decided to make heart shaped goodies: cinnamon rolls and brownies. The brownies are easy enough. I’m simply using a heart shaped cookie cutter once my made from a mix brownies have cooled.

The cinnamon rolls are a different story. I made my favorite cinnamon rolls (recipe here) and attempted to rolls my cinnamon rolls into hearts. Take a gander.

How did I do this? It was quite simple. Instead of rolling the dough into one big cylinder, I rolled in from parallel edges, forming two cylinders, until they met in the center. Then I cut them into 1 inch pieces.

After removing a piece from the counter, I formed it into a heart by pinching the bottom into a v-shape, like so.

And how did these babies turn out? Well, results were mixed. See?

The one on the right looks just how I imagined. The one on the left? Not so much, but both taste so yummy that I can overlook any flaws in appearance!

Lesson learned, I still don’t do fancy. 🙂

Do you? Any disaster stories you’d care to share?

Have you ever been sitting in your house, just sitting, minding your own business, when you’re hit with a craving so intense and overwhelming that you feel you must satisfy that craving NOW or you will DIE? You would crawl through fire for it. It doesn’t happen to me very often, but it happened last night. I was getting ready to fold the laundry (which I’d put off for days), and I thought, “It would be nice to watch a movie while I fold these.” Innocent enough, right? Well, then the thought of brownies flitted into my mind, and it wouldn’t go away. And I didn’t want just regular, plain, ole brownies. I wanted Cheesecake Brownies!

Mmmm…

Funny thing is, I’m not really a big dessert person. When I have a choice between real food and junk food, I almost always choose the real food, because I like it better. Blasphemy, I know, but it’s true. Usually. Not last night. I NEEDED a brownie. Blame hormones, stress, the prospect of mindless housework, whatever. Luckily, I had a Costco-size box of my favorite brownie mix tucked into my baking cupboard for just such emergencies. Even better, I had cream cheese and extra Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips, so I could make the now required CHEESECAKE BROWNIES!

What’s the problem, you ask? I had the horrifying realization that I used all my eggs making fried rice for my family last night. Every single one! Fried rice I didn’t even eat! Earlier in the day, I almost went to the store and bought some more eggs, but I just didn’t feel like it. I knew that if I ran in for “just two things,” I wasn’t coming out with “just two things.” So I didn’t go. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. But it was. I was in the middle of a brownie crisis with no eggs in my house, and it was too late to bug my neighbors for them.

I needed these! There was no question about it!

Brownies just aren’t the same without eggs, and I wasn’t going to mess with an egg substitute. Yes, I have applesauce, and chia seed, and probably a few other things that can replace eggs, but when I want a brownie, I want a BROWNIE: full of eggs, fat, and all the yummy stuff that will probably kill me. I used to have powdered eggs in my pantry for just such an emergency, and I have two cans on order with Thrive (Thanks Jenny!), but they aren’t here yet. Then… almost as if a light bulb flicked on over my head, I remembered that I had one more can of powdered eggs in my food storage “closet under the stairs.” HALLELUJAH! I was SAVED! Saved from an overwhelming brownie craving which would follow me for days if I didn’t get it under control now. THIS IS WHY I HAVE FOOD STORAGE: FOR BROWNIE EMERGENCIES.

I crawled into my “closet under the stairs” (no, I still haven’t straightened it), dug my way back to the back of my closet, found my box labeled “whole egg powder” and pulled out my last precious can of powdered eggs. Weird, you say? Not when used in baking. You cannot tell one lick of difference between the powdered and the real stuff in baking, and they’re shelf stable saving precious refrigerator space! It’s great for those who don’t eat a lot of eggs and hate having them go bad in their fridge. They are fantastic. A “must have” in my kitchen.

So… Brownies. Cheesecake Brownies. Here’s how I made ’em with my powdered eggs and all.

Best Brownies Eva!

Cheesecake Brownies with Powdered Eggs

Adapted from the Betty Crocker Website. Recipe here.

Favorite Brownie Mix (prepared as directed)

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

2 eggs (or in my case, powdered egg and water to equal 2 eggs)

6 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips (add more or less, if you prefer)

Prepare your favorite brownie mix according to the directions, and pour batter in a greased pan. Mix the softened cream cheese with the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Pour cream cheese mixture on top of the prepared brownie mix. Swirl together slightly with a knife. Top with chocolate chips. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-55minutes or until done. Let cool for several hours, then cut into 16 pieces and serve. Each brownie contains 338 calories.

Sounds good, huh? That most difficult part is waiting for them to cool with the house smelling all chocolately, cheesecakey good. But they are totally worth the wait. Watch how I made these delicious, most favorite of all treats, treats.

Here are the ingredients I used.

I started my brownie mix by mixing the powdered eggs with the oil and water.

Then I added the brownie mix and mixed it with a whisk until just combined.

To make the cheesecake mixture, I put everything in my mixing bowl: powdered eggs (plus water to reconstitute), cream cheese (which I didn’t soften), sugar, and vanilla.

I probably should have softened the cream cheese, but I was in a hurry. 🙂

Since I didn’t soften the cream cheese, the whisk wasn’t cutting it, so I used my hand mixer.

I mixed it until combined, but can you see the little lumps of cream cheese in there? That’s because I didn’t soften it, but you won’t notice one lick of difference once these are done.

I poured the brownie mix into a greased Pyrex pan (my baking pan of choice).

I poured the cream cheese mixture on top…

Swirled a knife through…

And they looked like this. Make sure not to “over swirl.” (Is that a word?)

As if there wasn’t enough chocolatey goodness, I topped the entire mixture with Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips. Then I popped them into my convection oven at 290 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, that’s different than the temperature I quoted you, but my oven runs hot.