Forgive me, no picture for this one!

Well, first off, I didn't get a chance to make the awesome looking Tuesdays with Dorie recipe this week. It was the Chocolate Crunched Caramel Tart chosen by Carla of Chocolate Moosey. I think its such a neat blog name btw. Anyway, if that sounds like something you'd like, head to her site and check it out.

Now...I did bake this week. I made this weird dessert (yes, weird, once you try it, you'll agree). Its called Neiman Marcus Brownies. I wanted to make it since one of my customers at work keeps bringing some to me from his Rotary club meeting that is catered once a week. The recipe came from a lot of different ones since I just google'd the name and figured it out from there. Here goes:


Neiman Marcus Brownies
Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 box yellow cake mix (just use the powder, no additions)
1 stick butter, melted
1 egg, beaten

For the top:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 box powdered sugar (the small boxes that brown sugar comes in too)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

And for the in-between:
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2-1 cup coconut
1 cup chocolate chips

OK. The process:
1. Mix the ingredients for the crust together. Press it in the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch pan. Its going to be easier to do with your hands than anything else. I tried a spatula and gave up.
2. Press the pecans, coconut and chocolate chips into the crust mixture.
3. Mix the top ingredients together. Pour over the crust.
4. Bake for 1 hour at 300 degrees.

I took mine out at 40 minutes and added some more pecans and coconut to the top and then put back in for the remaining minutes. Watch it when it gets close to done, I took mine out a couple minutes early since the crust was already golden.

I kept mine in the refrigerator, though I think it would probably be OK on the counter as well. I ate some that night after it got done, and then some again this morning. And I have to say, I think it gets better a day later. Give it a shot, let me know what you think.

TWD: Flaky Apple Turnovers

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Dorie's Flaky Apple Turnovers. Julie of Someone's in the Kitchen picked the recipe and you can find it on her blog. Or you could always buy the best baking book ever.

Lets get started by saying that I'm the worst kind of baker ever...I almost always refuse to roll things...like dough. I hate it. It hates me. So...for this recipe, which I'm sure would have been easier to do than normal...I may have used frozen puff pastry. Shh, don't tell!

Anyway, the filling was probably the easiest thing I've ever made. I love apple pie but usually have a love/hate relationship with the filling. This was awesome. Not too fussy, but just right. I halved the recipe, but put in probably more than the normal amount of cinnamon. They looked kinda scary when they came out of the oven, but once I trimmed up the scary stuff that spilled all out, they looked alright and tasted even better. A definite hit with the family! I'm going to try these again but next time I may go for squarish ones and maybe put some jam in the middle.


(This is some of the scary stuff. I assume its buttery goodness, but I'm not trying it!)

TWD: Chocolate Souffle

Oh my goodness...

Just...

Wow.

That's all I can say really. Just wow.

Anyway, on to the food. I was really intimidated by the name. I had no idea what it was supposed to be like. And what, you might ask, is it like? Heaven. That's what. It was probably my perfect idea of a chocolate dessert. It was a brownie mixed with a cake that was slightly gooey in all the right places while still done and kinda spongy in a good way.

I baked this pretty much as the recipe stated. The only difference was I used 4 ramekins and a fiesta coffee cup to bake in. I baked at 390 for about 22 minutes. My wonderful egg-master of a husband did however spill a bit of egg yolk into the batch of whites, but it worked out just fine. When folding in the egg whites, I was being extra gentle so I didn't go for completely mixed up and was a little worried but apparently it didn't make any difference at all. My only complaint was nothing to do with the recipe and more to do with lighting and my crappy camera. Oh well :)

Many thanks to Susan at She's Becoming DoughMessTic for picking this. Check out her blog for the recipe. And thanks to Dorie for writing the best baking book ever!


(This one didn't rise very high since I filled it last and didn't have half a cup of batter. I'm still glad I didn't waste it, it was so good!)

TWD Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

This weeks (late) Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was for Dorie's Espresso Cheesecake Brownies. They were easy to make, kinda fun (you get to swirl!) and overall fairly good. I'm not a gigantic cheesecake fan so I started to skip this week, but even though I'm late, I came through!

I skipped the coffee since my wonderful husband hates it (I know, he's weird), and I also skipped the sour cream topping. Sour cream wigs me out 99% of the time (I know, I'm weird). I baked at 350 for 35 minutes, and though the recipe says the middle will be beige, mine wasn't but it was perfectly done. Just look at the edges, if the brownie is done and it doesn't jiggle, take it out.

Oh, and it says you should cool it for 2 hours before serving...Nah. Maybe I'll wait 2 hours for another bite.

For the recipe head over to Life In A Peanut Shell and check it out!

Distractions...

Well, I had plans to make this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe this afternoon. But, as you can guess, that didn't happen. I ended up spending most of today helping my Dad get situated after he broke his wrist/arm at work and then helping out my Mom. So, tomorrow is the day for these brownies, and they will be a welcome sight.

Check back tomorrow! Sorry for the slacking!