Night and Day Brownie Bites

Today I was torn between making snickerdoodle cookies or cinnamon toast cupcakes.  After finally settling on snickerdoodles, I opened the fridge and discovered I didn't have enough butter.  So I decided to go with plan b - cinnamon toast cupcakes. I opened the pantry and discovered I didn't have any yellow or white cake mixes.  So on to plan c, which previously did not exist.  I had a brownie mix in the pantry and remembered that my Cake Mix Doctor Returns cookbook has a section on brownies.  I flipped through and spotted the perfect recipe...one that combined three of my favorite things - chocolate, cream cheese, and cinnamon. Plan c!

First you fill mini cupcake pans with the brownie batter, then you top each mini brownie with a cream cheese & cinnamon mixture like so (I added some cinnamon sugar on top of that):

Pop them in the oven, then pull them out and let them cool in the pan for 10 agonizing minutes:

Then you remove them from the pan and let them cool for 5 minutes:

Ha! Who am I trying to fool - I ate one immediately:

I wanted to take a picture of it without the wrapper, but it stuck to the wrapper.  Later on, after I actually let them cool, I sacrificed and ate another one.  But just for photographic purposes:

Lessons learned and recipe thoughts:

1. 
   
   Yum!
2. 
   
   The "night" and "day" contrast would be more striking if I didn't add the optional cinnamon to the cream cheese topping. But then the brownies wouldn't be nearly as delicious.
3. 
   
   The coffee in the brownie batter just intensifies the chocolate flavor.  In other words, you'd probably never notice the coffee if I didn't just mention it.  You can certainly make it with water if you prefer.
4. 
   
   An easy recipe that is yum.  Did I mention yum?

Night and Day Brownie Bites (from The Cake Mix Doctor Returns")

For the brownie batter:

1 pkg (about 20 oz) brownie mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup cooled brewed coffee

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the cream cheese batter:

8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tbls all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly mist mini cupcake pan with vegetable oil spray or line with paper liners (the recipe says it will make 24, but somehow I ended up with 40 mini brownies...terribly unfortunate).

2. Brownie batter: place brownie mix, oil, coffee or water, 1 egg, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are well incorporated, 40 strokes. Set bowl aside.

3. Cream cheese batter: place cream cheese in medium mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and 1 egg and continue beating on low speed until well combined, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

4. Spoon a tablespoon of brownie batter into each cupcake well.  Then spoon a tablespoon of cream cheese batter over top.

5. Bake until the edges have set and the centers spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 22-26 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in pan 10 minutes. Run knife around edges if you baked without liners, or just lift out if you baked with liners. Let cool on wire rack 5 minutes.

Lemon Curd Icebox Cake

Brett and I were talking about his upcoming birthday.  It's not til Oct 24 - he likes to plan ahead. I wonder who he gets that from?  Anyhow, he mentioned that he'd like me to make a lemon cake for his party. Wha?! Is this the same boy who requests peanut butter-flavored anything whenever he can?  I'm really not sure what to make of this.  But I figured I oughta try out some lemon cake recipes so I can find the perfect one for the Falzone family party.

First up: Lemon Curd Icebox Cake from The Cake Mix Doctor Returns.  It doesn't get much easier than this - add 1/3 cup lemon curd to your usual ingredients for the cake mix. Yep, that's it.

It's not too exciting to look at - just a cake covered in Cool Whip.

Cake. Covered in Cool Whip.

Lessons learned and recipe thoughts:

1. The recipe calls for you to mix 2/3 of the lemon curd in with whipped cream.  But I wanted to separate the two to boost the lemon flavor.  So I spread the lemon curd over the cake right after I pulled it from the oven (spooning it on, then spreading it out with a spatula after it melted a touch).  I'd definitely do it this way again.
2. I don't like lemon cake mix (I always feel like it has a weird chemical taste), and I didn't have a yellow cake mix. So I substituted a white cake mix. Worked just fine. 
3. Chuck's review: this cake tastes like summer.  Brett's review: "mmmmm. Lemon." My review: "holy crap, that was easy to make...oh and it tastes good."
4. Probably not the front runner for Brett's bday cake (which I've decided must have buttercream or cream cheese frosting), but great cake nonetheless.

Lemon Curd Icebox Cake

For the cake:
1 pkg (18.25 oz) plain yellow or lemon cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup lemon curd (from a 10 oz jar)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

For the topping:
10 oz cool whip (or...you can be fancy and whip 1 cup heavy cream + 1 tbls powdered sugar)
2/3 cup lemon curd (remainder of lemon curd)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease and flour 9x13 pan.
2. Place cake mix, water, 1/3 cup lemon curd, oil, and eggs in large mixing bowl. Beat on low speed 30 seconds til incorporated. Scrape down side of bowl if needed.  Increase mixer to medium and beat 1 1/2 min til batter is thick and well combined. Pour batter into pan and place in oven.
3. Bake til cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, 30-35 minutes. Transfer to wire wrack and let cool to room temperature, 25 minutes.
4. When the cake has cooled, fold lemon curd in to Cool Whip or whipped cream. Spread over cooled cake with spatula. Cover and refrigerate to chill at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.