Each Wednesday evening my newly-formed life-writing circle meets at the Crozet Library from 7-8:45 pm. One of the preparation parts I especially enjoy is making a treat for us. For tonight I decided on chocolate since Valentine’s Day was a few days ago.
I picked through my three-decades-old farm recipe cards, from a time when I baked nearly every day, and decided to make Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies. It’s a recipe I’m fairly sure I found among the great recipes in our monthly Farm Journal, although I didn’t note the source on the index card.
Make brownie mixture:
Melt together ½ cup butter + 1 ounce baking chocolate
Mix together, then add to butter mixture:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup walnuts
Make cream cheese mixture:
Cream 8 oz cream cheese
Add: ¼ cup soft butter
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
Assemble:
Spread chocolate mixture in a 9×13 oiled pan. Cover with cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with ¼ cup walnuts.
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes
A sweet reward for dedicated life-writers! And for you, too, if you like the notion of cheesecake atop your brownies!
The only thing sweeter than our brownies was the time we spent sharing, listening to, and discovering our common threads in each others’ stories. That was a precious and sacred treat!