GourmAndrea

Cinnamon-Swirl Raisin Bread-Fine Cooking

This recipe is from the recent Fine Cooking the Feb/Mar 2012 magazine. I was SO looking forward to making this recipe and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it was a real let down. The cinnamon is too overpowering to the point I wonder if they made a mistake??(3 tbsp of cinnamon per loaf!) It is so strong it takes on a spicy tone without enough sugar to balance it. I did a simple glaze on it hoping to fix it but it still lacks what I was hoping for. The raisins that are on the outside of the loaf have a burnt taste to them, anyways I will keep lookin........ anyone who has one they love let me know:)

Rolo Cookies

MMmmm These are my favorite cookies, I adore them! They are soft brownie like cookies and they have a Rolo chocolate tucked away in the center; genious! :) I got this recipe from my Alley-Mate (Thank you Delta!) she brought some over at Christmas and she had them in the cutest gingerbread man baggies that I assumed they were commercial (and wondered why commercial cookies tasted good) and asked her where she bought them. But alas here and her mom make them every year and she was kind enough to give me the recipe yay! I think I may make them at Halloween with all the extra chocolates I have because I did some with Reeses and some with Caramilks this time and they were all super good.

ROLO COOKIES

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

40 Rolo Candies (4 rolls)

A bit of sugar for rolling  cookies in

Large bar of white chocolate for dizzling tops

1.) Preheat oven to 375F

2.) In a small bowl combine flour,cocoa,baking soda blend well.

3.) In a large bowl beat sugar,brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy add eggs then vanilla; beat well. blend in flour mixture.

4.) Use 1 tbsp of dough for each cookie then wrap around Rolo Candy and roll tops in sugar.

5.) Bake for 7 to 10 min on ungreased cookie sheet or a parchment lined sheet.

6.) When cool drizzle with white chocolate (if chocolate is taking awhile to set put it in fridge for 20 min or so.) 

*Note: I would prep and shape these then let them sit for about 30 min before baking I found the rise and shape were much better on the cookies that rested awhile

Cream Cheese Brownies

I got this recipe from the Joy of Baking site the recipe can be found here. *WARNING: This site is highly addictive and you may come back one day later with an empty pan and 5 pounds on your hips! It is truly my fave baking site hands down all the recipes I have tried have worked beautifully. These are decadent,very fudgy,tangy and oh so rich! Cakey lovers should look elsewhere.

The idea of these are three layers, a brownie base,a cheesecake middle and then a bit of reserved brownie batter for the swirl. The recipe calls for a 9 x 9 pan and I all I have are 8 x 8 so if this is what you have too it takes about an extra 12 min of baking time due to it being a thicker brownie. I would also not recommend cutting these without letting them chill for at least 10 hours they have to fully set and the flavors meld, mine actually started to fall apart when I tried to cut them after about 4 hours.

How could anything that starts this way go wrong??I used Lindt %70.
My advice for the swirl use smaller dollops than me I had to swirl too much to mix and lost some contrast because of it. Also I would have cream cheese ready and set aside before you do the brownie batter because as the brownie batter sits it thickens and makes it harder to move your knife through it. If you go to the site you can see how it should really look a little less "swirly" than mine.

Before the oven and then..... after

On a side note these freeze beautifully and I used light cream cheese as I always do and they were intensely rich so there really is no need to full fat. I personally find full fat cream cheese way too overpowering. Anyways brownie verdict: they taste as good as they look! If you want to check out a "linky party" check Sweet as Sugar Cookies here