Friday, January 15, 2010

Did you know?

A friend has just informed me that Oreo's are Egg and Dairy Free - how awesome is that!?

You learn something new every day :)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Oreo Brownies

I had a request for Oreo Brownies, which I happily agreed to make.

The recipe for the Best Ever Brownies is here: http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Best-Ever-Brownies-L1156.html

I doubled the recipe for ours, we only had a big tray and I didn't think that the one lot would have been enough (and it wouldn't have been)

But fist, a picture.



And now for the recipe

300 grams butter
2 cups of Brown Sugar
4 eggs
1 Cup Plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa (I didn't want to over do it with the oreo's)
1 Packet of Oreo's, hand crumbled into largish chunks
100 Grams chocolate chips.

Directions:
Cream Butter and Brown Sugar, add eggs and beat for about 1 minute. Add in Plain flour and Cocoa and mix with a spatula. Tip in Oreo chunks and mix gently so you don't break the Oreo's up.

Line a baking dish with grease paper and pour mix into the pan. Now the above recipe said to bake in 160 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, but with my doubled recipe, I baked it at 160 degrees for about 45 minutes - an hour, depending on how deep the mix is. when it's ready, you'll be able to put a fork in, and pull it back out and it will be relatively clean.

Now for the fun part!

Grab the chocolate chips, and randomly drop them all over the top of the brownie, straight out of the oven. Wait a few minutes for them to melt and them move them around with a knife or spoon (I used a spoon) You know those Chocolate Bark's everyone's nuts about lately? That's exactly how they do the top of the bark *wink wink*

And that's it, let it cool and eat!

A friend of my visited this afternoon while they were cooling and insisted on trying a piece.

A few sample phrases from her chocolate filled mouth was.

"Ohhh WOW"

"mmmhmm tis good"

"Better than sex" LOL to which hubby replied, your sex life must be pretty bad then LOL

And then she told her boyfriend that it made her weak at the knees so I guess they're good then?! I havent tried them myself yet... bit scared haha.

Enjoy!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Week 1 - Oreo Cheese cake.

While sitting at our kitchen table one night, surrounded by my gorgeous family, we chatted about food - a big topic in our household. Ha.

This is when the 52 Week Oreo Challenge was set. My brother and his fiance are obsessed with Oreo, me: obsessed with baking. Combine the two and we're all in trouble - Weight Watchers is going to LOVE us.

I made a luscious New York Style Baked Cheesecake for Christmas - I was uninspired by the usual dessert foods at Christmas and wanted something decedant. Everyone loved it, so I made another, and another.... Whilst eating the last Cheesecake, we chatted about adding Oreo's, and so we decided an Oreo base on this cheesecake would be fab-u-lous.

The recipe here - http://www.joyofbaking.com/Cheesecake.html - was adapted to include the Oreo's. I take NO credit what-so-ever for any recipes I post on here, and will link to each and every recipe that inspired me, and then my recipe, with changes included.

So, here's the end result:



and up close





And the Recipe:

Oreo Crust:
2 Packets of Oreo's - crushed
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Filling:
1kg of Philly Cream Cheese - Room Temp.
1 cup White Sugar
3 Tablespoons of Plain Flour
5 Large Eggs
1/3 cup Cream
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

Crush Oreo's in a large Zip lock bag, best done on a cranky day, kids being annoying? Take your frustions out on the Oreo's - they wont mind! hehe Mixed with sugar and Melted butter. Line a Springform tin with baking paper. Place in Crust Mix and flatten, don't leave gaps - place in fridge.

In a Large Bowl place the Cream cheese, Sugar, Plain Flour, Cream and Vanilla. Beat on medium with Beaters until all combined. Add one egg at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each egg. Make sure to scrap down the sides with a spatula to get everything mixed evenly.

Pour into previously cooled springform tin - Place onto a baking dish or tray - there's usually a little leakage from the cheese cake. Place into the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, then lower the temp to 120 degrees and bake for 1 and a half - 2 hours. I've always found mine took two hours, rather than 1 and a half.

Once it's baked, remove from oven, run a knife around the edges of the cheesecake - this prevents the cheesecake cracking when it cools (it'll shrink too!)

Try and wait until it's cooled to eat! We got a bit anxious yesterday and took the side off the springform tin a little early and it took on a weird shape when it cooled. Do your best to wait, trust me, it's worth it!

Enjoy! Please share pictures or let me know how you liked it!

Bec