Mini Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

 

Super decadent and perfect for Valentine's Day in place of candy or chocolates.

 

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (I know it's a lot, just do it)
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 8 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies. Then cut into 16 squares (4 by 4 grid).

(Recipe adapted from "Sweet Pea's Kitchen")

Mini Crustless Broccoli Quiches

INGREDIENTS

Non-Stick Cooking Spray
6 crackers, finely crushed
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1/4 cup canned whole kernel corn
2/3 carton (16 oz each) Egg Beaters

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously spray 6 regular muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Mix together cracker crumbs and Parmesan cheese in small bowl; set aside. Place broccoli in medium microwave-safe bowl with 1 tablespoon water; cover. Microwave on HIGH 2 minutes; drain well. Chop into smaller pieces. Spoon broccoli evenly into muffin cups; top evenly with corn, crumb mixture. Pour Egg Beaters evenly over filled cups to the top of each cup.
3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until puffed up kind of souffle style. Let stand 2 minutes; run table knife around edges to loosen.

 Pretty filling and healthy. (Recipe adapted from eggbeaters.com)





Best Rice Krispies Treats Ratio

 

So I had a random craving for rice krispie treats.  Typically I don't have that cereal, nor those marshmallows on hand, so I bought them last night with the intentions of being snowed in today.

Success. 

I hate rice krispie treats that are hard and not very marshmallowy, so I made the following changes to the original recipe found on the back of the marshmallows bag. (2 additional Tbsp of butter, extra half bag of marshmallows)

 

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp Butter

1 (9 oz) box of Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal (not generic)

1 and a half (10 oz bags...so 15 oz total) Kraft jet-puffed mini marshmallows

 

Directions:

In a large pasta pot, melt butter on med-low heat.  Watch it, don't let it brown. 

Add in marshmallows and stir until 90% melted.  (I say 90% because this leaves a few larger chunks of marshmallowy goodness to later be found embedded in each treat.

Stir in cereal until just mixed and pour it out and into a greased 11 by 7 pan.

I mean, you could use a 13 by 9, but they'll be much thinner.

Cool and cut into treats...if you can wait for it to cool that is.