Irish Cream Brownies

I have not blogged in a very very long time. Working full time with a toddler does not allow for kitchen experiments on a regular basis. Now that Christmas is almost here (3 weeks!) I am in full on baking mode and had to post what I have made.

These brownies are from the lovely Paula Deen in her usual rich, buttery, fudgy style. I might have overbaked them a bit but once I partially froze them, they were very easy to cut into 36 small squares. I have added more cocoa and will definitely up the irish cream amount next time as well.
Enjoy!

Irish Cream Brownies
Cooking with Paula Deen, Christmas 2006
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate (I used 2/3c. chocolate chips)
2 1/3 cups sugar, divided
5 large eggs, divided
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream liqueur
2 T. cocoa


In a medium saucepan, combine butter and chocolate. Cook over low heat until melted, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and coat lightly with Pam no-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, beat 2 cups sugar and 4 eggs with an electric mixer until fluffy (about 4 minutes). Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in melted chocolate mixture. Add cocoa.
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1 egg and liqueur.
Pour half of chocolate mixture into prepared pan. Spread cream cheese mixture over chocolate mixture. Spread remaining chocolate mixture over cream cheese layer. Run a knife through layers to swirl cream cheese, if desired. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting. (Or partially freeze).

Crockpot Chili

Now that the snow has returned, I felt like a warm and comforting dinner. Chili isn't high on my list of favorite foods but Paula Deen makes such yummy recipes that I thought I would try this one. The big difference between this chili and the standard fare is that the beef is stewing meat, not ground beef. Unfortunately, that makes it harder to scoop onto Doritos which is really the only way Josh eats chili, but he didn't seem to mind.
I whipped it up in no time, basically just opening a few cans. Paula suggests serving it with corn bread but my mom bought a cheddar loaf from our local bakery so we served that instead. This is a fantastic dinner idea especially when you are short on time.
Enjoy!

Update - This chili was a huge success!!! So delicious and devoured by Josh and my dad who are not the biggest chili lovers. If you eliminate the meat, it would be amazing over nachos.

Easy Crockpot Chili
Paula Deen's Christmas Magazine 2008
2 lbs. beef stew meat, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 - 14oz. can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 - 4oz. can chopped green chilies
1 cube beef bouillon
1t. dried minced onion - I used 1/2 a small onion, chopped
1/4t. garlic salt
1 - 16oz. can ranch-style beans - I didn't know what this meant so I used Pinto beans
1 - 15oz. can black beans, rinsed
1 - 11oz. can niblet corn, drained
Garnish - shredded cheese, sour cream

Place all ingredients except the beans and corn into the slow cooker and cook on low for 4hrs, then add the beans and corn and cook for 30min. longer on low.

Double Fudge Brownies or I Love Paula Deen

Paula Deen needs to be related to me. I don't think any television cook has ever made me as happy as she has. The recipes in her magazines never fail to delight my guests and are so easy! Even her layer cakes are, well, a piece of cake.

Anyway, before I drool all over the keyboard, here is the recipe for my 'go to' brownie. I made a little icing for them - the recipe included below. But honestly, if you let the brownies cool and sit overnight, they really don't need icing. The flavors will have deepened and the fudgy texture develops. Or, like Josh, you just might need your brownies to have icing.
Enjoy!

Double Fudge Brownies
Paula Deen Holiday Baking 2007

1c. sugar
3/4c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4c. Swiss Mocha flavored instant coffee mix
1 1/4c. all purpose flour
3/4c. chocolate chips
1 c. butter, softened
4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9" baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat all ingredients except chocolate chipson medium speed until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 30 min.

Icing:
Combine 1c. powdered sugar, 1/4c. cocoa, 1 t. vanilla and 1/4c. milk. Add extra powdered sugar until spreadable consistency.

Mom's Halloween Birthday

It is my Mom's birthday. On Halloween, I know. We actually like having her birthday on Halloween because it gives us a good excuse when we are trying to get out of another brutal Halloween party. This way we can hand out candy to the cute little kids, and then turn out the lights and watch a movie when the older, more obnoxious 'trick or treaters' come around. This year A & J opened their home to the party. A good idea because they are in a new neighborhood with lots of young families so we had adecent turn out of cute little kids. It also gave A a chance to practice her baking skills with me as we attempted my mom's birthday cake. I say attempt because I hate making layer cakes. I never end up with an even looking tower. It's always lopsided or one layer is careening off the top.

To stack the deck in my favor, I chose a cake from my beloved Paula Deen. Her cakes look amazing, are easy to prepare and I am sure cannot fail. This specific one is out of her Christmas Baking 2007 magazine which mom picked up for me in the States. I have poured over this magazine so many times that I probably know where every recipe is in it. The cake turned out really well with nice, even layers. The icing tasted really yummy the night we made it and was ten times better the next day. I think I will use it on cupcakes in the future. The layers of cake were light and moist and did not rise up with too much of a dome so the cake stayed flat. Next time I will partly freeze the layers first before icing as it was a little difficult with them slightly warm. I used the Pam Baking spray again and the layers fell out of the pan perfectly.

When we sliced the cake open, it looked so even and delicious. It tasted even better. The cake went a long way. It is quite rich and half the cake fed 9 people generously. Looks like alot of work, really wasn't. Oh, and the orange and black balls on top are malt balls, Halloween edition. Ciao!

Chocolate Malt Cake
Paula Deen's Holiday Magazine
Ingredients for cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup malted milk powder - such as Ovaltine
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Malted Milk Balls for garnish

Ingredients for icing:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup malted milk powder
5 cups powdered sugar

Directions for Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 - 9" cake pans.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder.
In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve.
Add milk mixture, oil and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
Add sour cream and vanilla, beating until just combined.
Pour batter evenly into pans, and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool and then remove from pans. Spread icing between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with malted milk balls.

Directions for icing:
In a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in icing sugar until spreadable.