Caramel brownies

At some point in time, we would all need some perking up or some kinda short respite. For some, relief from an exhausting work day would mean to head home to the comfort of the sofa and the tv; Oddly for some people, doing the household chores and keeping the home spotless bring them much satisfaction and unimaginable joy (ya really unimaginable to me...) Perk-ups can come pretty random, from a planned dose of adrenaline from coffee to finding an expected piece of chocolate. Or a piece of cake. Or a brownie.

Or two.

These are my fudgy caramel infused brownies. If you look closely you can probably see the loving goodness oozing out.

Packaged as a gift.

Saved a couple for my mom and a dear friend.

Hope you enjoy eating it as much as I did making it. (:

Cheesecake brownie

For mommy's birthday this year, we decided to stay in and have dinner at home. We had steamboat for dinner and despite the fact that the cooking was carried out as we eat, there was a lot of preparation work to be done prior to dinner time. This meant that I didn't get any kitchen space until 1-2 hours before everyone returned home - I had just enough time to whip up a brownie cheesecake. Chocolate and cheese, 2 of mom's favorite flavors.

A simple brownie recipe was used to make the base, topped with cream cheese and some swirling with a knife for marbling effect. As an afterthought, some chocolate chips in the brownie would be nice to further enhance the fudginess.

And so it was a pleasant night with home-prepared dinner, after-meal soccer-watching, a birthday song and some cheesecake. Simple and warm.

Mini cheesecakes

I love these liners - pretty plaids in bright cheerful colors. The plaid designs are on the inside, apt for these mini cheesecakes that will not rise or be filled up to the brim of the liners.

These are made with the classic cheesecake recipe, scaled down in baking proportions to fill only 2/3 of a liner. 

So I made about 9 of these minis. Philadelphia cheesecakes, lighter in texture yet richer in flavor than NY style cheesecakes.

Boxed up as a gift. Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag.