Friday, May 2, 2014

Santa Fe Brownies

At the rate I'm going with my post...I'll be ready for the next holiday; which is Mother's Day! Not doing too well on facebook either, or twitter, for that matter, and forget about Google + which I'm still figuring out, just randomly Google + ing people I don't even know, and try to keep up with friends that I do know!
Aside from the fact of 'social media'...which I seem to be 'anti-social'...I will still carry on with my food blog because I made so many friends there, and consider your friendship as if you lived close by!
Does it happen to you like me, sometimes?...you open up an old unforgotten cookbook, and suddenly see a fabulous dish or dessert that in the past you thought about making it?...but now, in the present, knowing the book is over 20 or 30...maybe even 40yrs old, and you know you have to make modifications...big time! A challenge is what it is; otherwise you will have to stick to more recent recipes, which are on the lighter side; and you can actually see photos...which in some of these old books you're lucky if you have diagram of some drawings and illustrations.
If I remember correctly, I have made a similar amazing decadent and rich brownies with the cream cheese marbleized swirls and posted it on my blog, in the past couple years (not looking for it now) This is Maida Heatter's recipe who's last copyright was in 1992; but I haven't seen any more of her books, since then...she might have even passed on!

Good thing that I always have the basic ingredients on hand, because I made this at the last minute's notice...allowing myself a couple of hours. I took this to my son's house...even though they are all 'health conscious'...a piece or two of brownies is a comforting simple dessert!
Besides the fact that my son Joe is an artist, and has a full time job; he has a huge project that he is involved with, and is the founder of it... cleaning up our beaches in Palm Beach county...called,
 BE OCEAN
which you can find on facebook!
This surely is a proper balance of light and delicious dinner: Steamed, and sautéed Kale...Baked Spaghetti, and Baked Salmon, (rubbed with a raspberry spice rub)...yumm!


 Maida Heatter's Santa Fe Brownies from one of Maida Heatter's chocolate dessert cookbooks.
Cake Ingredients
1 ½ c unbleached flour
1 ½ t baking powder
¾ t salt
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
8 oz unsalted butter
5 eggs 4 eggs
1 ¼ c sugar 1 cup sugar
1 ½ c brown sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T vanilla 2 teaspoons
8 oz walnuts optional
Line a 9-by-13 pan (with vertical sides, if possible) with aluminum foil. Put a few dabs of butter in the pan and put it in the oven to melt the butter. Then use some crumpled plastic wrap to spread the butter over the foil Spray pan with Pam, or other brand name veg. or butter spray, and also the aluminum foil as well.. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. no need to sift!Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. you can melt it in the microwave oven, adding a few drops of water to the chocolate. Follow instruction for melting chocolate!Mix the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the chocolate mixture, then the dry ingredients. Stir in about 2/3 of the walnuts. Set aside 2¼ cups of the mixture, and spread the rest in the pan.  Cream cheese topping ingredients
(This may be doubled for very cheesy brownies.) I did not double the ingredients (no need to)
12 oz cream cheese
3 oz butter
1½ t vanilla
¾ c sugar 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs 1 egg
Warm the cream cheese and butter to room temperature. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Then beat in the vanilla and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Pour the cheese mixture over the chocolate in the pan. Soften the remaining 2¼ cups of cake mixture by stirring it briskly. Then pour it over the top of the cheese mixture in the pan. Cut diagonally through the top two layers to marblize them. Lay the remaining walnuts on top.
  Bake for 75 minutes. If you doubled the cream cheese, bake for about another 30 minutes. When the top is sufficiently brown, put some foil on it, especially around the edges, to keep the cheese from burning. Total bake time is 35-40 minutes. The instruction for bake time in the original recipe is totally incorrect!Put the whole business in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, turn the cake out of the
pan onto a board, peel off the foil, and carefully
cut the cake into small pieces. Wrap the pieces in wax paper to keep them from sticking together.
As soon as brownie cools down, you can lift it out with the foil that is hanging over, and start cutting up the brownies; as I have in my top photo shown!

21 comments:

Laurie M said...

ITS always a pleasure to browse old cookbooks and find recipe we remember from our past, this is a wonderful brownie! Your son keeps busy and has an interesting career by the sounds of things!!!

Catherine said...

The brownies sound wonderful along with the delicious salmon, kale and baked mac.
All sounds wonderful.
As for the social networking, I am not very good at all of this either. I always! ask my kids to try to help me. lol; though I am not very quick at catching on.
Blessings, Catherine

Emma said...

I'm terrible at social networking! I don't even have Facebook etc.

Those brownies Elisabeth, you've inspired me to make some this weekend, they look so wonderful.

Patty Magyar said...

They look so good and I loved the way you lightened them!

scrambledhenfruit said...

School takes up most of my time these days, and social media takes a back seat. Spring break was last week, so at least I got a post on my blog! These brownies look so good- I think I have a couple of her cookbooks on my shelf. I do like the changes you've made! :)

Daiana Molineris said...

Hi Carissima Elisabeth!!!
Come stai??:-))
Delicious and very nice your brownies,and pasta,salmon favolosi!!!! ;-))
Baci tesoro a presto!!!

Daiana

Angie Schneider said...

You are not alone in social-media thing..I am too lost in g+...pinterest is still my favourite to share the stuff I love.
I have weakness for all things chocolate...which I shouldn't! Chocolate is too addictive!
These brownies look really super, Elisabeth.
I wish you a relaxing and fun weekend!
Angie

Illéskrisz Konyhája said...

Micsoda örvényes süti! Nagyon guszta! Szerem én is, ettem már sokfélét! A marcipános is nagyon jó tud lenni...

Rafeeda AR said...

these brownies look so delicious... decadence at its best...

trollanyu said...

Nekem is sok szakácskönyvem van, de ritkán sütök belőlük, ezen változtatni kell:) Szuper a brownie, hasonlót sütöttem már én is. Szép hétvégét és boldog anyák napját neked:)

Hankka said...

Nagyon guszta sütemény, látszik, hogy mennyire finom! :)

Zsuzsa said...

I took down the recipe Elisabeth. I have to make this, I saw it last night and thought about it when I went to bed a little too long. :-)

Phong Hong said...

Hi Elisabeth! This brownie must be super yummy what with the cream cheese! Great that you found it in an old cookbook and I am also looking through old cookbooks to discover gems that I missed in the past. So your brownies were a very nice compliment to a healthy dinner. I would not feel guilty if I had a balance of the healthy and the indulgent!

Sea Glass Jewelry said...

O'h my. Chocolate heaven

mangiabella said...

oh bella me too! sometimes I just fall so far behind on online communications that there is just no way to "catch up", only to dive back in :) I am going to explore some social media management software, particularly hoot suite or sprout social. It's like a dashboard you can have on your computer that has all your social media in one place. twitter, Facebook, etc...so you only have to go to one place and answer all...this might help me get more organized when I launch Mangiabella as a brand....so much to learn!!!! you always inspire me sweet bella, these brownies look amazing. xoxo

Liz Berg said...

I have made these brownies before and they are magnificent! Best cream cheese swirl brownies I've ever eaten. I think yours are taller than mine...makes for a gorgeous presentation! You are probably the smart one...keeping connected by visiting blogs. I seem to waste so much time on those media sites...and have to scramble to visit my good friends, like you!!! Hope you're doing well!!!! xo

Sissi said...

Simply gorgeous! Even though my mum has never made anything called brownies, your brownies remind me of my mum's chocolate cakes (or rather cocoa cakes because at the time cocoa and butter was used rather than chocolate). They were soft, slightly moist, fluffy and so delicious, I wasn't able to go out of the kitchen without taking a slice.

Zoe said...

Hi Elisabeth,

I think you have been doing well with baking, cooking, blogging and other social networking. I guess that we have been over-whelmed with too many gadgets and social media these days... I remember when I was living with grandmother in the old Singapore, we used to go around houses to chit chat with friends... These days, we go to Facebook!!! I wonder if the relationship is as personalized as we used to have... Nevermind!

Love love love your brownies and hope that you have a nice Mothers' day holiday :D

Zoe

wanna said...

Tetszik nagyon, szerintem sem árt néha felülbírálni a szakácskönyvek receptjeit. Nekem nincs sok szakácskönyvem, vagy 5-6 régi és még régebbi 18-19 század, érdekes, jó olvasmányok....

Kathy said...

Hi Elizabeth, I’ve been missing in action lately…visiting grandchildren and Easter. Finally back on track. Your brownies look fabulous…I made a cream cheese swirl brownie awhile back to the rave reviews of my family.
Maida Heatter is still alive and well as far as I know…I have many of her cookbooks. She has always been known for her wonderful desserts! Happy Mother’s day my friend!

marisz57 said...

Ez valami csodálatos! A külleme is nagyon csábító, az összetevőket ismerve pedig biztos, hogy nagyon finom!