After a few days, I settled on the Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Brownies, which works out well, since the theme on my blog this week is Pumpkin. These brownies were fun to make, my daughter loved getting involved and oh my goodness, they are like little slices of melty goodness in your mouth. P.S. You might consider nuking a brownie for about 10 seconds before you eat it, just to enjoy the melty goodness we all discovered. These brownies are absolutely delicious, Colleen, they are being added to our Fall Cooking recipes!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Brownies

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 cups and 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 short cup flour (1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Cream together butter and 2 cups sugar.  Add the vanilla and mix until smooth.  Beat 4 eggs and add to the creamed mixture and mix well, scraping sides of bowl if necessary. (Ignore the fact that my daughter did not scrape the sides of the bowl yet.)

In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt.

Switching to a paddle attachment, gradually add to the wet ingredients, mixing well after each addition.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Liberally grease a 9 x 13 inch pan (I used a heavy dose of cooking spray).  Pour 3/4 of the batter into pan and smooth evenly.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.

Add pumpkin, 3 Tablespoons sugar, remaining egg, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix on low until smooth.

Spoon pumpkin filling evenly over the pan of brownies.  Then spoon remaining brownie batter over the pumpkin filling.  Use a knife or spatulas to swirl and create a marbled design. (Please also ignore that my daughter reserved too much chocolate batter and so the marbled effect is below and not so much on top. lol)

Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and jiggle the pan; if the middle jiggles sloppily, put it back in the oven and bake for 2-4 minutes.  Keep doing this until cracks just start to appear and the middle JUST stops jiggling.  (I baked for 45 minutes, in 4 minute increments after 25 minutes.)
Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.  When completely cool, cut into squares.

Makes 24 brownies.

Linked up with: Tuesday Talent Show, Thanksgiving Traditions Link Up, Creative Juice,

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Brownies originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 14, 2011.

Not only are these a favorite with my kids, I love them too. Yummy! Plus, they are SO easy to make.

Chocolate Cake Balls Recipe

You will need:
1 package of chocolate cake mix
1 container of chocolate frosting
1 (3 oz) bar of chocolate flavored confectioners coating

Using any type or shape of pan that you would like, prepare the cake mix by following the package directions. When the cake has finished cooking, crumble it while it is still warm into a bowl. Stir in the frosting until it is well blended. Now, melt the chocolate coating into a microwave safe bowl, stirring occasionally until it is smooth. (sometimes I do this on the stove top.)

Use a melon baller if you have one, otherwise a small scoop will do. Using the melon baller, scoop up the chocolate cake mixture to form balls.

You can now place a toothpick into each one to make this easier. Dip the balls into the chocolate coating using a fork or a toothpick. Place on a piece of waxed paper and allow to set. It shouldn’t take too long for the chocolate to set. You can eat them as soon as they are ready.

They are SOOOOOO good.

Chocolate Cake Balls Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on September 21, 2010.

When we went on our camping trip a few weeks ago, our friends showed us this awesome sandwich. We made it over the campfire, but I figured out how to make it in the oven at home. You could also do this over a firepit. Just be careful because it’s HOT! I’m always on the look-out for good camping recipes.

S’more Sandwiches Recipe

All ingredients are per person:

2 slices of Bread
Peanut Butter
Chocolate chips
marshmallows (mini heats faster and gets more coverage)

If you are making it at home, preheat your oven’s broiler. On one slice of bread, spread peanut butter on one side. Stick chocolate chips all over the peanut butter on the bread. (use as many as you like). Next, put the marshmallows on top of the chocolate layer. Take the last piece of bread and spread peanut butter on one side. Put the peanut butter side down on top of your marshmallows. Put sandwich on a baking sheet and put under the broiler for about a minute and a half, flip the sandwich over and broil for another minute or so. If you decide to do this over a campfire, wrap the sandwich in tinfoil and using a campfire sandwich maker (looks like the long sticks used to toast marshmallows but has a sandwich holder at the end – look at Walmart), toast both sides for about a minute to two minutes each. These are SOOOOOO good!

Edited to add: We made these at home a few times since the camping trip – and if you make them in a pan or on a griddle, you can butter the bread just like a grilled cheese sandwich and sprinkle powdered sugar on them. OMG! Sinfully delicious.

S’More Sandwiches Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 25, 2010.

Had four kids home with me today, and I felt obligated to basically entertain three of them. Why? Not sure, except their older sister is enjoying a nice day at Six Flags (band concert) and they are stuck at home. So, we wanted something fun to make, and we all love chocolate – so we chose this! So good!

Chocolate Kiss Pie

1 13oz. pkg. of Hershey’s chocolate kisses
2 oz. milk
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 12 oz. container of whipped topping, thawed
1 ready-made chocolate pie crust

In a pot, add the 2 oz. of milk, remove the foil wrappers from the kisses and melt the kisses over medium heat in the
milk. Once completely melted, the add the cream cheese and stir until completely melted. Remove from the heat and quickly add the whipped topping to the pot. Rapidly stir in the whipped topping. Pour all of it into the ready made pie crust. Refrigerate about 2 hours or so until set. It is very yummy! We all agreed.

Hershey’s Kisses Pie Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on March 4, 2010.

Since I was a little girl, this was the requested item for every birthday I ever had. Even now all grown up, my mother knows its still a favorite and doesn’t hesitate when I ask her to make it. I like it both with the nuts and without the nuts, and honestly, it’s my favorite cake EVER!

Now I have my kids addicted to it. I will tell you, I’ve always enjoyed it right out of the refrigerator, though it is also really delcious served hot or warm. For some reason to me it just tastes better cold.

I did ask my mom where she originally got our family recipe that she makes. It was in a cookbook that was through my elementary school. It is not called a Texas sheet cake because it came from Texas, as many believe. It is actually called a Texas Sheet Cake because it is BIG and RICH and HOT, and once upon a time, it was believed that rich people lived in Texas and we all know everything is bigger in Texas (yes I was born there and lived there as an adult). And well, if you’ve ever visited Texas in the summer, you know how incredibly HOT it is. So there ya go. This is not our family recipe, I will share that one at another time. I have photographs to go with that one. But if you want a GREAT treat to bring to barbecues and picnics, this is the one.

Texas Sheet Cake
A few quick notes – it is best to use the ingredients as they are listed and not the low-fat or no-fat version of anything. Don’t substitute margarine for the butter. The cake will still turn out, but the rich flavor won’t be as good. Trust me on that, I’ve tried. It is seriously my one weakness where I know I’m putting on the calories. Tell ‘ya what – eat a piece and take a walk. That should cover it

Cake:

1 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Icing (recipe below)

Icing:

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 box (1 pound) confectioners’ sugar (sift it first to remove lumps – otherwise icing remains lumpy)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Chopped Pecans (optional)

For the cake: In a saucepan, combine the butter, water and cocoa over med. heat until the butter melts. Don’t let it cook too long. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and baking soda. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Careful, it’s hot. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix well. Pour into a sheet cake pan or jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degress for 20 minutes.

For the icing: In a saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa and milk over medium heat and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and combine with confectioners sugar and vanilla. Mix well with a mixer to remove lumps. Spread over the sheet cake while it is STILL hot. You can either mix the chopped pecans into the icing before pouring it over the hot sheetcake, or sprinkle them over the top after you put the icing on (or omit all together).

Texas Sheet Cake Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 8, 2009.