German Cream Cheese Brownies

What is not to love about brownies? This brownie recipe results in a delicious cake brownie with rich swirls of cream cheese. Mom has many brownie recipes, and it is hard to pick the best one, but this recipe makes excellent brownies. These brownies are a decadent treat and well worth the effort to make.

This recipe is slightly more complex than a basic one-bowl brownie. To create the swirl pattern, the brownie batter and the cream cheese batter are made separately. Then, the batters are layered and a knife is used to create the swirl pattern. This recipe calls for German Sweet Chocolate, which is a variation on baker's chocolate. If you cannot find German Sweet Chocolate, for each ounce needed, use one ounce semisweet chocolate plus one-half tablespoon sugar.

German Cream Cheese Brownies 

• 4 ounces German Sweet Chocolate
• 5 Tbsp. butter
• 1 package cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract (optional)

Melt chocolate and three tablespoons of butter over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool. In separate bowl, cream the remaining butter with cream cheese until softened. Gradually add in one-quarter cup sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. Stir in one egg, one tablespoon of flour, and one-half teaspoon vanilla until blended. In another bowl, beat the remaining eggs until fluffy and light in color. Gradually add remaining three-quarters cup of sugar, beating until thickened. Fold in the baking powder, salt, and remaining one-half cup flour. Blend in the cooled chocolate mixture. If desired, stir in the nuts and almond extract. Set aside one cup of the chocolate batter. Spread remaining chocolate batter in a greased nine-inch square pan. Pour cheese mixture over the top. Drop the set aside chocolate batter over the cream cheese layer. Swirl together with a spatula or knife just to marble. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool. Cut into squares and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Cheery Cherry Cookies

Mom's recipe box contains many cookie recipes. When I found this recipe, I thought it would make a great Christmas cookie. These cookies could be great any time, but they were especially good for Christmas. The cookies are chewy with delicious cherry chunks throughout the cookie.

The recipe calls for topping each cookie with some cherry preserves and a piece of almond. The way these cookies baked up, there was not a good way to get the preserves to stay on the cookie and there was not a need for extra preserves, so I left off the extra preserves and almond. If you want to add the preserves, make a small indent in the middle of the cookie with your thumb before baking.

Cheery Cherry Cookies 

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cherry preserves
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• cherry preserve (optional)
• halved blanched almonds (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the 1/4 cup cherry preserves. Thoroughly stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt; add to butter mixture, mixing thoroughly. Drop from teaspoon two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes until delicately brown. Let cool on the sheet for one to two minutes before removing. If desired, top each cookie with preserves and almonds. Enjoy!

Almond Butter Balls

This Christmas, I tried out more of Mom's cookie recipes than usual, so January this blog will see two more Christmas cookie recipes. This recipe is delicious and so easy to make. I especially like to honey and almond combination of this cookie. These cookies are similar to Almond Crescent Cookies, another Christmas favorite.

The recipe calls for refrigerating the dough, but it was a bit to hard to work with after refrigerating, so you can probably skip refrigeration or just for a short time. I used a cookie scooper to shape the cookies, but because the dough was a bit too cold, it was hard work. But the hard work was worth it; these cookies are great at Christmastime or any time of the year.

Almond Butter Balls 

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup soft butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
• confectioner's sugar

Sift together flour and salt. Work butter in bowl until creamy. Add honey and beat until well blended. Add almond extract. Gradually add flour, beating well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Cover and chill for about an hour or less. Preheat oven to 350. Shape dough into one inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Roll in confectioners sugar while warm and again when cooled. Enjoy!