Brownies, Bars and Birthdays

September is birthday month for me and quite a few of my friends. One friend in particular really likes my Espresso Blondies (well I guess they are actually Silver Palate Espresso Blondies, but, I made them, so they are mine, humph), so when trying to think of something nice to do for him, I decided to bake him a batch of these delicious blondies. Brownie One: Espresso Blondies.
But why stop there?

I have had a package of goat cheese in my refrigerator for a week or two now just waiting for the right inspiration, and I found it. You know that chef guy Bobby Flay and his TV show 'Throw Down with Bobby Flay'? Well a while ago he threw down with the Vermont Brownie Company, and they won. Although I did not see the show, when I was looking for recipes that involved chocolate and goat cheese I ran across a recipe that referenced that episode, so I checked it out. Nice recipe. Beat Bobby's peanut butter chocolate brownies, so the recipe couldn't be that bad. But while looking at that recipe I ran across another blog for Luna Cafe and she made Chocolate Lemon Goat Cheese Caramel Brownies. Sounds like a whole lot going on, but it also sounded intriguing, so that's the one I chose. Of course I made some minor changes to it, leaving out the lemon and using my favorite brownie recipe from Capriel's Desserts. Brownie Two: Super Fudgey Burnt Caramel Goat Cheese Brownies.

The brownies just before I put them in the oven.

To make these brownies start with your favorite gooey brownie recipe. Make a basic caramel sauce. And treat the goat cheese as you would cream cheese for a basic cream cheese brownie recipe. I used half goat and half cream cheese so it has the tang of goat cheese and the smooth creaminess of the cream cheese.

For the recipe that inspired these brownies go to the Luna Cafe website, thelunacafe.com and find the recipe for lemon chevre burnt caramel brownies.

Process: in a 9x13 inch pan place a piece of parchment paper with edges hanging over like you see in the above picture. Spread about 2/3rds of the batter in the bottom of the pan.  Spoon the caramel over the brownie mix making sure there is caramel over all the pan. Spoon the goat cheese mixture over the caramel and spread the remaining brownie mix over all. Using a knife make the swirl pattern in the brownie mix. Bake at 350 until brownies are set. Should take about 20-30 minutes. Don't let them over bake or the goat cheese mixture will get grainy and dried out.

The finished product. If only there was a big glass of milk available....

My other favorite brownies are the Silver Palate Espresso Blondies. Another recipe you can find on line, go to silverpalate.com and type in Espresso Blondies. The original Silver Palate cookbook was one of my very first cookbooks and is one that I have continued to give my friends throughout the years. I sometimes change things up a bit and use white chocolate, but no matter what you do with them, they are amazing.

Just out of the oven and cooling down a bit so that I can cut them and eat them all up, well, except for the ones that I gave to my friend Chris for his birthday.

Again, need a glass of milk.

I hope you all decide to check out these great recipes on other peoples sites. I know I enjoy looking through the Internet for fun food ideas. I was recently introduced to another great website, punchfork.com. This site puts together pictures from all sorts of food blogs in one spot so it is easy to check out what lots of people are doing all in one place. I am now a huge fan of Pioneer Woman.

Next up, well I have no idea where I will be inspired next, so stay tuned.