Sunday, March 7, 2010

Easiest ever strawberry cream cheese brownies

Once in awhile, I like to post a recipe. I'm a bit of a brownie fiend, so I like to experiment with the Ghirardelli brownie mixes from Costco. These are a good deal...you get 6 mixes for about NT$350. And you really can't screw these up too badly---all you need to add is an egg, some water, and some oil.

Now that Costco is selling strawberry-flavored cream cheese, I decided to combine the brownie mix with the cream cheese spread to create a chocolate-strawberry concoction.
I threw a few chocolate chips on top, and voila!
And then I gave one to my husband...still warm out of the oven...with a little vanilla ice cream on top. He called it "pure perfection."

Want the recipe? Here you go!
Ingredients:
One brownie mix
About 1 1/2 cups of cream cheese (I prefer the flavored kinds from Costco...in this recipe, you'll use 1/2 of the carton)
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
red food coloring (optional)
Directions:
1. Grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan. Preheat your oven, of course.
2. Make the brownies first. Follow the directions on the box. If you use the Ghirardelli mixes, you'll add 1 egg, 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup oil. Spread the brownie mix in the pan.

3. Mix the cream cheese (1 block, 1 tub or 1/2 carton of the Costco kind) with 1 egg and 1/3 cup sugar. Add red food coloring if you want a prettier look. I mix this with a mixer so it's all nice and smooth. Just mixing by hand won't work as well.
4. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the brownie mixture. Swirl with a knife to make it look pretty.
5. Bake for about 35-45 minutes. Baking time all depends on your oven. Bake at 320 degrees...or 160 degrees if you're using a Taiwan oven. I'm not very scientific on the baking times or temperatures. I just know how my little convection oven works, so I apologize that I'm a little vague on this part.
Don't overbake, though...nobody likes rock-hard brownies.
ENJOY! Let me know if you try my recipe!




Saturday, March 6, 2010

Strawberry cream cheese spread at Costco.


Have you tried the cream cheese spreads at Costco yet? I usually buy the caramel nut one, but this time we tried the strawberry cream cheese spread, their newest flavor. I also use these spreads as emergency frostings for cake. Cream cheese spread is quite versatile...you can also put it on sweet crackers or bagels.