German Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

These brownies won a 3rd place ribbon at the 2012 Tillamook County Fair.  It's actually two different recipes I threw together.  I thought they would taste well together.  The recipes are:  Black Bottom Cupcakes - which Russ brought home from work, and Coconut Pecan Frosting from my sister Lynda.

Black Bottom Cupcakes
1 (8) oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp salt
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1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
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1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 TBSP cider (or regular) vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients until light and fluffy.  Stir in chocolate chips.

In large bowl combine remaining ingredients.  Mix well.  Pour into greased 9x13 baking pan.   Pour cream cheese mixture over top of batter - try to keep it evenly dispersed.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until it tests done.  Now....you have 2 choices.  You can either leave your cake this way and call it good - which is very tasty...OR you can add the following recipe - which is what I did for the fair.

Coconut Pecan Icing
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cube margarine or butter
1 1/4 cup coconut
1 1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 TBSP vanilla

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil for 5-6 minutes.  Cool then frost cake.

Granola

I am always on the lookout for good granola recipes. This would be one of many I've come to really like. This recipe was part of the June 2010 Aussie/NZ recipe swap and my teammate is gailanng from the Deep South.

Granola
3 cups regular oats, uncooked
1 (2 1/8 oz) sesame seeds
1 (3 3/4 oz) salted sunflower seeds (I believe I only had unsalted.)
1 (2 1/4 oz) sliced almonds
1/2 cup coconut (I left this out.)
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped dates (I omitted these and used 1 cup craisins instead.)

Preheat oven to 325. Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Combine maple syrup with next 5 ingredients. Pour over oat mixture and mix very well. Spread evenly on a 15x10 baking sheet. Bake 3o minutes or until golden stirring every 10 minutes.
Turn oven off and leave for an additional 5 minutes. Remove. Stir in fruit. Let cool and store in airtight container.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe comes from Russell's cousin Laura Jacobson. She sent it to me years ago. We (I mean I) make these a lot during the year. I will triple the ingredients so a quart of homecanned pumpkin can be incorporated. I am always looking for ways to include my food storage in our everyday cooking.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups shortening
4 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TBSP baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP nutmeg
1 TBSP vanilla
7 1/2 cups flour
1 quart homecanned pumpkin, drained and mashed
2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Mix all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until light brown and firm to the touch.

Crockpot Chocolate Candies

As Nephi would say...it's "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!" I chose this recipe from my teammate Chef1MOM~Connie from East Aurora, NY. If you like nuts (any combination) and chocolate - you will definitely like these.

Crockpot Chocolate Candies
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
12 oz white chocolate chips
2 - 2 1/2 cups roasted nuts (your favorite combination)

Put all ingredients in a crockpot. Turn on high for 15 minutes. Stir. Turn to low. Stir after an additional 15 minutes. Stir one more time 15 minutes later for a total of 45 minutes. Drop by teaspoons onto waxed paper or alumimum foil sprayed with veggie spray. Let cool. Enjoy!

Crunchy Oat Cereal

What a great idea to use up all that oatmeal in my food storage! Jen T from New Zealand shares this recipe on recipezaar - I chose it as part of my recipe selections for the swap in September 2009. Use this recipe in the recipe below as well.

Crunchy Oat Cereal
1 1/4 cups large rolled oats
1 1/4 cups roughly chopped nuts (I used sliced almonds and walnuts)
6 TBSP maple syrup - the good stuff
6 TBSP butter or margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and spread onto a large shallow baking pan sprayed with vegetable spray.
Bake for 30-35 minutes - or until golden and crunchy.
Let mixture cool before storing in an airtight container. May be stored up to 2 weeks in a cool dry place.

Use this cereal in the recipe below.