Category Archives: Food And Recipes

Friendship Bread By Darien Gee – A Secular Title

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Please note that this is a secular title.

Have you ever made Amish Friendship Bread (or any other type of bread, like sourdough) that required a starter? If so, did you like it? How did it turn out?

Friendship Bread by Darien Gee
An anonymous gift sends a woman on a journey she never could have anticipated.

One afternoon, Julia Evarts and her five-year-old daughter, Gracie, arrive home to find an unexpected gift on the front porch: a homemade loaf of Amish Friendship Bread and a simple note: I hope you enjoy it. Also included are a bag of starter, instructions on how to make the bread herself, and a request to share it with others.

Still reeling from a personal tragedy that left her estranged from the sister who was once her best friend, Julia remains at a loss as to how to move on with her life. She’d just as soon toss the anonymous gift, but to make Gracie happy, she agrees to bake the bread.

When Julia meets two newcomers to the small town of Avalon, Illinois, she sparks a connection by offering them her extra bread starter. Widow Madeline Davis is laboring to keep her tea salon afloat while Hannah Wang de Brisay, a famed concert cellist, is at a crossroads, her career and marriage having come to an abrupt end. In the warm kitchen of Madeline’s tea salon, the three women forge a friendship that will change their lives forever.

In no time, everyone in Avalon is baking Amish Friendship Bread. But even as the town unites for a benevolent cause and Julia becomes ever closer to her new friends, she realizes the profound necessity of confronting the painful past she shares with her sister.

About life and loss, friendship and community, food and family, Friendship Bread tells the uplifting story of what endures when even the unthinkable happens.

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My thoughts? I can honestly say that I’ve never read a book quite like this, and I mean that in a good way. Julia is still reeling from the unexpected death of her ten year old son – five years ago. She blames her sister Livvy for her son’s death and as a result of her grief, she becomes estranged from the residents of Avalon, as well as her husband, Mark. Mark finds that he needs to pick up the slack around their home since Julia no longer works and spends most of her time grieving. He’s tired of being the good guy and finds himself somewhat flattered when a woman from the office starts paying attention to him.

Julia bonds with Hannah (a recently divorced professional cellist) and Madeline (the owner of the new tea shop). These women help Julia to heal.

The premise of the Friendship Bread is what drew me to this book in the first place. If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you’ll know that I love blogging about food and fiction, and this book is a unique mix between the two. This book was written in the present tense and there are about 20 (or more) points of view – but this style of writing worked for this type of book. Some of the characters only have a point of view for a few pages, and then you never hear about these characters again. The only on-going characters are the ones mentioned in the book summary above as well as Edie (a reporter), Edie’s husband, and Livvy’s husband.

The way the story plays out, with the community banning together, the friendship bread starter being passed on from person to person, is truly unique, sometimes funny, and emotional – causing a bond between the Avalon community.

Reading this book has made me want to do my own starter and bake a batch of Amish Friendship Bread for myself. After you do the starter, you bake the bread in ten days. During that ten-day period, you squeeze the bag of starter and add ingredients on a few of those days. The starter ferments and when you bake the bread, you pass on three of the bags of starter to friends or relatives. My only problem? I have no idea to whom I’d gift those extra bags of starter! I guess I could give one to my sister? Or maybe my mom? The town of Avalon soon became overflowing with starter bags, and I can understand how this would happen. You can find the recipes for the Amish Friendship Bread starter here. You can also use the starter to make brownies, pancakes, biscuits, as well as several variations of the Amish Friendship Bread.

The starter reminded me of the sourdough starter that was mentioned in my bread-machine cookbook.

When I do the Amish Friendship Bread starter, I’ll be sure to blog about it.

As I stated earlier, this is a secular title. There was some mild cursing and a few people living together, but otherwise, there wasn’t a whole lot that would offend the Christian reader.

Have you ever made Amish Friendship Bread (or any other type of bread, like sourdough) that required a starter? If so, did you like it? How did it turn out?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Vanilla Pudding And Shrimp Fried Rice

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If you try these recipes, or have made similiar recipes, leave a comment and let me know what you think about these foods. Do you like pudding or stir-fried rice? Have you ever tried to make these foods before?

Here are a couple of recipes that I recently made for my family:

Vanilla Pudding
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk (I used lowfat milk)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened (I used Kerrygold butter)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a bowl with a wire whisk. Place the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over very low heat or over a double boiler, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir at least half of the hot mixture gradually into egg yolks; stir into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir one minute; remove from heat. Stir in margarine and vanilla. Pour into dessert dishes; refrigerate. Makes 4 servings.

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos

Cute idea: I poured the pudding into pretty coffee cups before serving. It looked really neat and I think it’s a nice, elegant way to serve pudding!

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos
Fried Rice
1 cup bean sprouts (I didn’t have any, so I skipped this)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil and I think I used more than 2 tablespoons)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 cups cold cooked white rice
1 cup of cut-up cooked pork, chicken, OR shrimp (I used two small packages of raw shrimp in the shell, not sure how much shrimp it was.)
2 green onions (with tops) sliced
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons soy sauce (I used low-sodium soy sauce)
Dash of white pepper

If using uncooked shrimp, steam shrimp until done and peel off the shell. I did not cut up my shrimp, I left them whole.

Rinse bean sprouts under running cold water, drain. Heat one tablespoon oil in 10-inch skillet (I used the largest iron skillet that I had but it was too small. It’s best to use a VERY LARGE SKILLET OR WOK.) until hot; rotate skillet until oil covers bottom. Cook and stir mushrooms in oil over medium heat until coated, about 1 minute. Add bean sprouts, rice, pork (or shrimp or chicken) and onions; cook and stir over medium heat, breaking up rice, until hot, about five minutes.

Push rice to side of skillet; add one tablespoon of oil to skillet. Add eggs; cook and stir over medium heat until eggs are thickened throughout but still moist. Stir eggs into rice mixture. stir in soy sauce and white pepper. Makes four servings.

Enjoy! Don’t forget to leave a comment!
~Cecelia Dowdy~

Oatcakes!!

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As you know, I blogged about oatcakes recently. I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but, I did purchase some Effie’s Oatcakes. They just came in the mail yesterday and they are GOOD! 🙂

However, although I am enjoying Effie’s Oatcakes, I think they are a bit different than the oatcakes described in the novel Angel Harp. As far as I can tell, people eat the oatcakes with jam or jelly, butter, or with meat or cheeses. The Effie’s Oatcakes tasted more like a lightly sweetened thin oatmeal cookie without the cinnamon and other spices. They are thin and crispy, like a cracker, and they have a rich, buttery taste. When I do try a recipe, I’m going to use one that has butter instead of shortening or lard. I love the taste of butter in a cookie! 🙂

As I said, they are good, but I can’t imagine eating them for breakfast or at tea time with cheeses and meats. My husband and I are eating Effie’s as a dessert or snack.

I will try to make some soon. I’m off from work next week, so, I might take part of one of my days and bake some oatcakes – or, if I’m feeling adventurous, I might make some this weekend!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Angel Harp By Michael Phillips

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Angel Harp by Michael Phillips

Product Description
Widowed at 34, amateur harpist Marie “Angel” Buchan realizes at 40 that her life and dreams are slowly slipping away. A summer in Scotland turns out to offer far more than she ever imagined! Not only does the music of her harp capture the fancy of the small coastal village she visits, she is unexpectedly drawn into a love triangle involving the local curate and the local duke.

The boyhood friends have been estranged as adults because of their mutual love of another woman (now dead) some years before. History seems destined to repeat itself, with Marie in the thick of it. Her involvement in the lives of the two men, as well as in the community, leads to a range of exciting relationships and lands Marie in the center of the mystery of a long-unsolved local murder. Eventually she must make her decision: with whom will she cast the lot of her future?
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Overall, this book was a wonderful read and I think you should give the story a chance! It’s probably the longest book I’ve read so far in
2011. Canadian harpist Marie is widowed and suffering from depression. She recalls how she used to daydream with her deceased husband about visiting Scotland. She takes a summer off from teaching harp lessons to visit Scotland. When she arrives in a small town in Scotland, she finds a place she wants to stay for awhile. She rents a cottage and takes long walks, sitting on her favorite bench, playing the harp. During these excursions she manages to meet a preacher/curate (Iain), a duke (Alasdair), and an old religious man (Ranald) who enjoys playing the fiddle and talking about God. Marie soon finds that she’s the subject of interest in the small Scottish town, especially when she begins dating both the duke and the curate. There’s also a sickly girl named Gwendolyn whom Marie befriends. Gwendolyn and her Aunt Olivia create a strange twist to the story – a twist that’s co-mingled with Iain’s and Alasdair’s lives.

After about the first fifty or sixty pages, the story moved pretty well. The scenery on the Scottish coastline was vivid, and I wanted to see that pretty water and those dolphins myself. The characters were real and I felt that I really knew the people in this small town. Marie’s connection to her harp is real and stunning, kind of like the connection that most writers have with their writing and creating stories. She plays the harp for solace and she enjoys teaching others her craft. The love triangle was interesting, too, and you were surprised at what happens when you read this story.

Although there was much to love about this book, I saw some things I would’ve liked to change:
#1. I would’ve cut off the first fifty or sixty pages of the book when Marie is still in Canada, suffering from her loneliness and depression. While reading this part, I grew very bored. In this section, there was NO DIALOG…at all! It was just Marie’s depressing thoughts about being by herself and missing her husband. I almost didn’t finish the book because of the way it started out. I’m glad I didn’t stop reading and kept at it, giving the book a fair chance. If I’d stopped reading, then I would’ve missed a good treat of a story.

#2. Dialect. I had NO IDEA what the common folk in Scotland were saying…at all! In writing, I’ve always been taught that dialect should be used sparingly. This author uses dialect for most of the townspeople. I understood conversations between Marie and the curate and duke – they spoke without the annoying dialect. I know there’s a glossary in the back of the book, but, when I’m reading a novel, I’m not going to look at a glossary to figure out what somebody is saying. As a matter of fact, it’s rare for me stop and look up much of anything while reading a novel, I’m reading to be entertained, and it’s too bothersome to stop and figure something out.

#3. I’ll admit that I skipped pages, several times. Sometimes, the author rambled about God and beliefs and salvation. An example of this is when Marie is talking to Ranald and Ranald gives her a brief religious history of Scotland…in dialect. I skipped over this. Passages like this were boring to me, if I want a brief religious history about Scotland, I’ll go to a history book and read about it myself. I don’t want to read so much detail about it in a novel.

Over all, this book was a good read and the author is a good writer. I think you should give this book a chance – don’t give up too quickly like I almost did. The author did do a great job in showing Marie’s spiritual journey. Marie has a strong struggle with her faith – her faith has weakened considerably since her husband’s untimely death and as a result, she no longer goes to church. That is, until she meets Iain and her life takes a drastic turn.

Oatcakes photo courtesy of Undiscovered Scotland – click on link for recipe. If you try it, let me know how it tastes.

As I do sometimes with book reviews, I wanted to mention a food item featured in this novel. The characters kept mentioning oatcakes. I’d never heard of oatcakes until I’d read this novel. I know I’d said I don’t usually stop and look things up while reading a novel, but I did finally look up oatcakes because everybody kept eating them for breakfast, lunch, teatime, nighttime, etc. I finally had to look it up on the internet. I found a few recipes and I’m thinking about making them myself. It seems that oatcakes are Scottish and that they eat them over there a lot. I’m assuming they harvest a lot of oats over in Scotland, hence the appeal of oatcakes. You can eat them plain or with butter and jam, or meat or cheese. The Scottish reminded me of the British with their tea time and their foods, which would make sense considering the history of the Scots.

Many thanks to Faith Words for providing me with a free review copy of this book.

I’ll top of this blog post with few questions: Have you ever eaten oatcakes? If so, did you like them? If you’ve eaten them, were they store-bought or homemade?
~Cecelia Dowdy~

Locusts And Wild Honey?

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Locust photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos.

Matthew 3:4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Hold on a second…do you like wholesome Christian novels? If so, try The Candy Beach Series – chaste Christian fiction for teens and adults. Download these stories today! Spread the word by sharing this link with your friends, family, and church buddies! Now, back to locusts and wild honey….

Locusts and wild honey? I’ve always wondered about this. I wish there were more details. John The Baptist wandered around the wilderness dressed in a garment made with camel’s hair, preaching the gospel and he ate locusts and wild honey? I’m wondering if the locusts were alive when he ate them, or if he cooked them over a fire before eating? How does one eat a locust? I’m wondering how easy it was to gather the locusts and wild honey for his meals? If you have any knowledge about this, feel free to share. It just doesn’t sound like an appetizing diet to me. I’m thinking he had other things to eat, but it appears that he may have eaten the locusts and wild honey quite frequently?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Chocolate Splash Photo courtesy of Idea Go.

I want to wish all of my blog readers a Happy Valentine’s Day! What are you doing to celebrate? My husband and I are going out to dinner today.

I’ve been in a totally crappy mood over the last few weeks. I know I rarely vent on my blog, but I’m taking the liberty to do so today. Things are winding down and hopefully everything will be better soon. I’ve been stressed and tired and with the little bit of free time I’ve had, I’ve been trying to lose myself in my cookbook. Meaning, I’ve tried a few new recipes, trying to cheer myself up.

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share a few chocolate recipes that I tried recently:

Chocolate Waffles

1/2 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Directions
1 Stir cocoa and butter in bowl until smooth; stir in sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with buttermilk to cocoa mixture.

2 Bake in waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions. Carefully remove waffle from iron.
NOTE: Leftover waffles can be frozen; thaw in toaster on low heat.
Serve with maple syrup and butter. These were good, but, to tell you the truth, I enjoyed them about as much as regular/non-chocolate waffles.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 cups buttermilk baking mix (I used Bisquick)
1 cup milk (You might need more milk. I thought the pancakes were too thick when using just one cup)
2 eggs
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat an electric griddle or large skillet on medium heat.

Combine baking mix, milk and eggs. Add chocolate chips. Pour 2 tablespoons of batter onto hot griddle for each pancake. Flip when one side is done – you should see bubbles. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Best Brownies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING (recipe follows) Directions
1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.

2 Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts, if desired. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

3 Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING; spread over brownies. Cut into squares. About 16 brownies.

CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3 tablespoons HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Beat butter, cocoa, corn syrup and vanilla in small bowl until blended. Add powdered sugar and milk; beat to spreading consistency. About 1 cup frosting.

I made these brownies without the frosting and they were still good! I was too lazy to make the frosting. We enjoyed these last Sunday while we were watching the Superbowl. Also, I used cashews for my nuts. Very tasty brownies. Maybe I’ll try them again with the frosting soon.

I made my lasagna recipe last weekend with the following change: I made my own sauce. Due to high blood pressure, I’m trying to watch my salt intake and most of the pre-made sauces have a high sodium content. To make my own sauce, I used four small cans of low-salt tomato sauce and one can of tomatoes. I poured that into a pot and added a chopped onion, a whole bulb of chopped garlic, and A LOT of Italian seasoning and oregano. I also added a little bit of sugar and some SEA SALT. I let it simmer for a few hours. It smelled heavenly while it was simmering on the stove! When the onions were soft and done, I completed the recipe as I stated in the link, substituting my homemade sauce for the pre-prepared sauce. It was so good! My husband thought the version made with the homemade sauce tasted better than the jarred sauce version! Yummy! We enjoyed this last weekend while watching the Superbowl, too!

If you try any of these recipes, let me know how they turn out!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Vanilla Pound Cake

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This recipe is a nice variation of my favorite Lemon Pound Cake. You use only vanilla instead of lemon. It’s sweet, moist, buttery and oh-so-good! 🙂

Vanilla Pound Cake

1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks)
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup evaporated milk

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan. Beat butter in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar ½ cup at a time, creaming well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir thoroughly after each addition. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 70 to 80 minutes. If cake is not done after 70-80 minutes, bake longer, until wooden pick comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes; remove from pan.

Enjoy! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Basic Burgers

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I made the best hamburgers the other day! I used an extremely simple recipe in my Southern Living Cookbook. The only alterations that I used were:

1. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef.
2. I used canned/store-bought Italian breadcrumbs instead of homemade bread crumbs.

I’ll admit, I’ve never used Greek seasoning before, and I had to go to the store to buy some to make these hamburgers! But, they were excellent! I pan-fried them, but we’ll probably make them again this summer to fry on the grill!

Basic Burgers

Ingredients
1 pound ground chuck (I used ground turkey.)
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup soft breadcrumbs (homemade) (I used store-bought Italian breadcrumbs.)
1 tablespoon grated onion
1/2 teaspoon all-purpose Greek seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used sea salt)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 hamburger buns
Preparation
Combine first 8 ingredients, blending well. Shape into 4 patties. Grill, uncovered, over medium coals (300° to 350°) 15 minutes or until done, turning once. Serve on buns.

For broiling: Place patties on broiler pan; broil 3 inches from heat about 10 minutes or until done, turing once.

For panfrying: Heat a heavy skillet until hot. Add patties, and cook over medium heat about 8 minutes or until done, turning once.

I served the burgers on toasted hamburger buns. I slapped some mayonnaise and ketchup on the burgers and topped with lettuce and tomato. Add a slice of American cheese if you wish. We had sea-salt potato chips with our burgers.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Bake Until Golden

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Bake Until Golden by Linda Shepherd Evans and Eva Marie Everson
From the Back Cover
Two cups of flour, a cup of sugar . . . and a generous pinch of scandal
The ladies of the Potluck Catering Club may have thought that competing on The Great Party Showdown reality show in New York City would be the biggest adventure of their lives. But they weren’t counting on the strange goings-on they would confront when they returned to Summit View, Colorado.

When a shocking event rocks their small town, the ladies are stunned–especially when the fingers start pointing at one of them. Will old friends stick together through their trials? Or will they be torn apart by tragedy?

Full of mystery, friendship, and faith, Bake Until Golden is the final book in this popular series.

Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson are award-winning authors, successful speakers, radio personalities, and avid readers of fiction. They are the popular authors of The Potluck Club, The Potluck Club–Trouble’s Brewing, The Potluck Club–Takes the Cake, and the Potluck Catering Club series. They’ve also led numerous Bible studies and women’s retreats. Linda lives in Colorado and Eva Marie lives in Florida.
==
My thoughts? This book was well-written, and I could see a lot of people being intrigued by the storyline. You have a group of ladies who run the Potluck Catering Club, and they’re local celebrities in their small town. Each woman is going through an emotional drama. The dramas deal with various topics such as: death of a spouse, a cheating boyfriend, a daughter who has to go to a foreign country to see her husband who’s been in a life-threatening accident, and the murder of an old friend. I found it hard to keep all of the characters straight in my mind. But, this is no reflection upon the writers, it’s just the way that I’m wired as a reader. I usually have a hard time reading novels where you have a bunch of women (more than 2 or 3) and each character has a point-of-view. After awhile, with so many points of view, I can’t remember the names of each character from chapter to chapter, and then I have to try and remember how all these females are connected. I’d recommend this novel if you want a slightly suspenseful read with lots of viewpoints and lots of characters.

On the upside, since this is the Potluck Catering Club, food is mentioned throughout the novel and I loved that! Also, there are many tasty-sounding recipes in the back of the book! I think I’ll keep this book and try some of those recipes! The recipe for Sunshine Cake sounds simply scrumptious! Also, the cover is fabulous! I want a piece of that yellow cake with chocolate icing! Yum! 🙂

Oh, many thanks to Baker/Revell for providing me with a review copy of this novel.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Thing About Beauty By Donna Riemel Robinson

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The Thing About Beauty by Donna Reimel Robinson

Being beautiful has its drawbacks.
Tonya Brandt wants to marry a handsome man, someone who will complement her own beauty. But she’s dated every hot guy in town without finding someone who loves her for her mind and talents.

Murray Twichell knows his chances with Tonya are about as big as a snowball in July, but somehow, he can’t get her out of his mind. He’s not very handsome, so he figures she would never date him. If only he could get to know the real Tonya without her discovering who he is.

When a secret admirer begins sending Tonya gifts and letters, she is excited. But who is this mystery man? She loves his personality, but what does he look like?

When Tonya finally discovers her secret admirer’s identity, will she reject him? Or will she learn that true beauty is more than skin deep?

===
This book was a light, endearing read that wasn’t heavy on conflict. Tonya is beautiful and she’s not getting any younger. She’s involved in her singles group at church, and finds herself smitten with one of the members of the singles group. BUT, Murray Twichell, a nightmare from her childhood, keeps popping up in her life. A cop, Murray makes a habit of giving Tonya speeding tickets, and she’s not very attracted to him, either. Whenever he’s around, Tonya finds herself bristling as she recalls the horrid time that Murray dropped a frog down her shirt when she was a youngster.

Then, Tonya’s life takes a drastic turn when she starts receiving expensive gifts and cards from a secret admirer! The secret admirer also gives his email address and she begins having conversations with this man online. She finds herself falling for her secret admirer and Tonya, and the rest of her small town, wonder who this secret man is? What will happen when she finds the identity of her admirer?

This is a good book to read if you want a story that’s breezy, light, and not too thought-provoking.

Occasionally, when I read a book, and if it reminds me of another title, I’ll mention it. The premise of this book reminded me of a Robin Jones Gunn book that I read ages ago called Echoes. So I wanted to add that if you enjoyed Echoes, you’ll enjoy The Thing About Beauty.

Tonya Brandt also wanted to pen her own cookbook and The Thing About Beauty often mentioned Tonya’s secret cream cheese brownies. Several characters in the book loved these brownies and the recipe was provided in the back of the novel. Here’s the recipe. I haven’t tried them yet, but I do plan on trying them sometime in the future:

Tonya’s Terrific Brownies
Chocolate Layer:
6 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspooons vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Cream Cheese Layer:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan; dust with flour.
Melt baking chocolate in a double boiler over boiling water, stirring while melted. Remove from heat and whisk in oil, sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour and salt until just blended. Fold in chocolate chunks.

In another bowl, beat cream cheese wtih sugar and egg. Spread 2/3 of the chocolate mixture in the baking pan; spoon tte cheese mixture over the chocolate layer; spoon the remaining chocolate on top. Drag knife through to swirl.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick to test. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes for warm brownies that y ou can eat with a fork, or cool completely for terrific finger-held brownies. Enjoy!

~Cecelia Dowdy~