Martha Stewart’s Cream Cheese Brownies

I have been eyeing this recipe for the longest time and finally got to satisfy my craving this afternoon! A uni-flatmate used to bake a similar cream cheese brownie those days and I have always wished she had baked more or more often. Recently, the taste of this cream cheese brownie just surfaced in my mind and I managed to get this recipe from Martha Stewart’s site (♥ it!) which I hope will not disappoint. Lo and behold, this easy to make cream cheese brownie was a slice of my heaven on earth!

Martha Stewart’s Cream Cheese Brownies is a must try! I made a few adjustments to it though mainly reducing the amount of sugar. I was glad that I did. Otherwise, I would have been eating chocolate sugar! Anyway, this is what I did:

Note 1: As most of my ingredients are stored in the fridge, I took out the 4 eggs, measured 145g [SCS unsalted] butter and 115g cream cheese to get them to room temperature before moving onto other steps.

Note 2:Since this is my first attempt, I started by preparing the baking pan (recommended 9-inch square) by brushing it with butter and lining the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Leave more paper overhanging on the sides so it is easier to lift the brownies out later. Set it aside. Then I preheated the oven to 180C instead of usually doing it first knowing that I will be taking more time to get everything ready.

Note 3:If you need help to convert the units, Online-Unit-Converter.com is a pretty good place to go to.

1.     Boil some water in a saucepan and switch of the heat. Place 115g unsalted butter and 227g semisweet or bittersweet (chopped) chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl and set over the saucepan to allow butter and chocolate to melt (2-3 minutes). Remove butter & chocolate bowl from pan. Add 1 cup sugar; mix to combine. Add 3 eggs, and mix to combine. Set aside.

2.        In a small bowl, whisk 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; set aside.

3.        Prepare cream-cheese mixture: Whisk 115g cream cheese with 30g room-temperature butter. Whisk in 1/8 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour.

4.        Add flour and cocoa mixture (step 2) into melted chocolate (step 1). Mix just until moistened (do not overmix).

5.        Alternately spoon chocolate batter and cream-cheese mixture into pan. Swirl mixture (if necessary) with a skewer stick to marble.

6.        Bake for 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). --> Don’t get this part of the instructions. Who can wait that long?! Anyway, I couldn’t and rewarded myself after removing it out from the pan!

7.     Perfect served warm on its own or with a glass of milk or a scoop of Haagen Daaz strawberry ice-cream (or Belgium chocolate if you don’t mind being overdosed. Ooh la la!)

8.        To store, cut completely cooled brownies with a dampened serrated knife into squares on a cutting board before storing in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.


Note: This is not the original Martha Stewart’s Cream Cheese Brownies recipe. It you would like the original Martha Stewart’s Cream Cheese Brownies recipe, click here.

Cheesy Pasta Bake

Takes only minutes to prepare especially on days like today when I absolutely don’t feel like cooking but I can’t leave my Baby O starving. This Cheesy Pasta Bake is such a random thing which is the best part of it! You can add or take out whatever ingredient you like.

This is what I did:

Boil a handful of pasta shapes according to instructions on pack.

While pasta is boiling, grate a handful of carrots into a baking bowl.

Chop a tiny clove of garlic finely and place into bowl. (Will omit next time as Baby O didn’t like the raw taste of it.)

Add half a teaspoon of mustard and crack some black pepper into bowl.

Score the bottom of a small tomato and place into boiling pasta.

Pour a handful of frozen garden peas into boiling pasta.

Roughly chop two baby corn and place into boiling water.

Switch heat off and remove tomato. Rinse with tap water and peel skin off before chopping roughly and add into bowl.

Drain pasta, peas and corn and mix all ingredients together in bowl.

Grate as much or as little cheddar cheese on top before baking in an oven toaster (or a preheated oven) for about 5 minutes and we have a little bowl of Cheesy Pasta Bake packed with red, orange, yellow, and green goodies topped up with calcium!

Other alternative ingredients: tuna/ salmon flakes, lightly sauteed onions, broccoli, cauliflower... basically whatever you can think of or available in your larder. You can also cook a tablespoon of flour in about a teaspoon of butter in a pan and then add a small cup of milk and bring to boil together with the grated cheese before baking it the proper way.

Lunch sorted.

This Mama would really like to know: Do you have any other lazy-day meal suggestions to share?

10 Habits of Happy Moms

Was logging onto my Yahoo Mail when this article's title just seemed to cry out for my attention.If you want to remain a Happy Mom, then read this. Take note of no. 2, a common mistake for me sometimes and no. 3 makes me laugh!

This Mama ♥ Quintessentially Yours

My little cousin, all grown up and embarking successfully in a career she is passionate about.. and blogging about it too! Check out some of her cool stuffs at http://quintessentially-yours.blogspot.com/

This Mama's Chocolate List

It’s the rainy season and it has been forecasted to rain lots here in Penang. The perfect time for a cup of hot chocolate! I mentioned before somewhere in this blog that I discovered recently that I actually like chocolate more than I know. Let’s see, there’s:

This Mama's mini chocolate cupcakes

hot chocolate
moist chocolate cake
brownies
Haagen-Daaz Belgium chocolate ice-cream
Cote D’Or dark chocolate
Pocky Almond chocolate coated biscuit sticks
Lotte chocolate filled biscuits
chocolate eclairs


Hmm... not that bad.. doesn’t look like I live on chocolate yet!

Mama, please...

Baby O has been signing 'Please' and 'Thank You' all these while.

Recently, she has been 'demanding' for things - (biscuit) ket, ket, keT, KET!!! That happens when you don't respond to her quick enough. So I have been 'instilling' some manners into her asking her to ask for things properly - Mama, more biscuit, please. She started signing 'please' but because she is able to speak quite a number of words now, I encouraged her to say the word instead. After a few reminders, she will actually say 'Mama, pease.' by herself. And when you acknowledge it - do you want more biscuits?, she will give you a nod together with an oh-so-sweet smile that melts you and makes you drop everything immediately to get her what she wants (caution: the second part of this sentence is exaggerated.). Well, she is finally able to express so much more now including pain which is such a relief especially at times when we don't know why she is crying! It is so cool to watch her string her words together now and be able to 'chat' with her! :-)

This Mama is back!

Been missing in action as we were away. Subsequently had to have a vacation after the vacation to recover from it all! Lots to update as well but I left my camera cable behind in Ipoh so there won't be pictures until later. Anyway, it's good to be back!

Travelling with a one and a half year old toddler is quite challenging versus when Baby O was just a baby! Although it was only a 4-hour long flight (thank God!), it felt as though it was three times that!

On the way there, we were on a 777 Boeing. The flight attendant was extremely kind to get another passenger to exchange seats with us so we could have a row of 4 seats all to ourselves. The weather was probably not great as the seat belt sign was kept on the whole time and we were advised to keep ourselves strapped most of the time to our dismay. I really wanted to tell the nice flight attendant, who managed to keep her smile on for us each time she passes to remind us to keep Baby O's seat belt on, that it is impossible to keep a one and a half year old strapped! We thought an option to stop Baby O from fussing was to carry her and walk her up and down the aisles but our hands were tied. I have never paid so much attention to the seat belt sign before in all my previous flights!

Baby O was given a little book which helped to keep her occupied for a little while. The on-flight entertainment also managed to distract her a while more before she finally retire for a short nap. Unfortunately, we were on a full 737 on the way back with only one short aisle to traverse made even shorter by the long queue of passengers waiting for one of the two toilets.

Anyhow, we somehow survived and this is a little reminder for future travels:
1. If given a choice, fly around nap or sleep times to minimise upset to child's routine.
2. Bring lots of healthy snacks and activities (eg. crayons, activity books) to keep child occupied before the fuss begins. I will rather over- than under-pack for this one.
3. During take off and landing, allow child to drink (eg. water/ juice/ milk) from a bottle or with a straw, or snack on something chewy (eg. raisins) to reduce discomfort of increased cabin pressure.
4. Don't expect to be able to rest on the flight so have enough rests before!
5. Choose a window seat which allows some form of distraction.
6. Check-in online if option is available.
7. Bring a lightweight and compact stroller that is also easy to carry around at the airport, through customs, on and off public transportation....
8. If flight is not full, try asking for a free row of seat for a more comfortable flight.