Friday, October 22, 2010

Halloween Recipe: Spiderweb Brownies

In just a couple weeks, Lick The Bowl Good will be celebrating it's 3rd Anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, but as they say, "time flies when you're having fun!" To help me celebrate, I will be hosting a giveaway from CSN, and it's gonna be good, so stay tuned for it. Ever been to CSN? They have everything from bar furniture to luscious cast iron Staub cocottes at great prices. You can even pick up a springform pan so you can make these Spiderweb Brownies!

From now until Halloween, I will be featuring holiday appropriate goodies. Today I have for you Spiderweb brownies, which are brownies with a cream cheese ripple in the center as well as a spiderweb design on top- fun, pretty and delicious! Before I tell you more about them, I have to tell you that I kinda goofed up a bit :-) This recipe says to make it into a 9x13-inch pan or two round pans. But in the comment section on the King Arthur Flour website someone asked if these could be baked in a springform pan, the the folks at KAF said YES and so that's what I did. However, they took so long to bake that the white cream cheese web design turned golden- not the look I was going for. So if you make these I suggest you make them in a larger pan or in two smaller pans. If you choose to make them like I did, bake them for 50-60 minutes.

I've been on the lookout for a chewy brownie for quite a while now. This particular recipe got oodles of great reviews so I tried it. While they are rich and dense and fudgy, they are not chewy. But they are delicious. I doubled the cream cheese mixture and spread half it in between two halves of the brownie batter. This made for one thick and decadent brownie! If you have a favorite brownie recipe or prefer boxed brownies, just use the creamy 'spiderweb mixture' to decorate with. It's a great way jazz things up this Halloween! Click on the link to see step by step pictures on the KAF blog. And if you happen to have a good recipe for chewy brownies please let me know!

Spiderweb Fudge Brownies adapted from KAF

Printer Friendly Version

Brownies:
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups chocolate chips, optional

Spiderweb Mixture:

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/2 teaspoon mint or vanilla extract (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

For the brownies: In a medium sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.

Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

Spread the batter in a greased 9" x 13" pan, or two 8" round pans. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

For the spiderweb mixture: Combine the cream cheese, sugar and flour in a small bowl, and mix until smooth. Add the egg yolk and flavoring (if using), mixing until smooth once again. Transfer the mixture to a disposable pastry bag, and cut just the very tip off the end, as shown.

Draw a small circle in the center of the brownie batter. Make concentric circles starting from the center and working your way outward, about 1 inch apart.

Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, (If you use a 9-inch springform pan like I did, then it will take about 50-60 minutes to bake through), until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

Have a great weekend!

33 comments:

Smitten Sugar said...

Looks delicious! I like the spider on top :)

Cant wait to see what other halloween treats you come up with, Im hoping I have some time this weekend to start making some of my own!!

Selba said...

A perfect dessert for Halloween :) I like the decoration with the spider!

Sugarplum Kawaii said...

This looks superb!
I'm going to make and bake this to bring to my neighbor's Halloween party. I have lots of plastic spiders, so my dessert will have a family on top! (-;

Coleens Recipes said...

What fun!! I love the spider web design. They look delicous. Thanks for the tip about the pan size.

Debbie said...

Oh they look so good. I love spider web design. I also want to do something like that for a Halloween post...I need to get more creative. I'll be blogging 3 years too but not until next summer. Time does fly by....

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Hi Monica - I had to stop by to see your brownies. They're so cute!! You're right... making the spider web design was fun! Thanks for visiting. See ya soon.

:)
ButterYum

Anonymous said...

That piece of brownie is huge! I love it! (: and I adore the cream cheese in it!

-Amalia

http://buttersweetmelody.wordpress.com

Please Do Not Feed The Animals. said...

What a great idea - it looks amazing.
I too am looking forward to all your other Halloween treats.

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Three years? WOW, Monica you're old in the blogging world. :)

I have to bring a treat to a Halloween party and am going to give this recipe or should I say technique, 'cause I'm probably just gonna a use a box, a try.
~ingrid

Natasha @ Saved by the Egg Timer said...

Chocolate brown food Brownies are the best! Cute web, am I missing how you got the yummy looking white layer in the middle?

Nonna said...

Another delicious brown food. Anything chocolate and festive will be a hit on Halloween !

Roz | La Bella Vita Cucina said...

Happy Early 3rd Blogoversary, Monica! What a clever way to put a spider web on a cake . . . before it bakes!

tamilyn said...

Cute! My Drama Queen made me buy four pumpkins today, one each for her, Dude, myself.....and Tofu the cat! I should make these for our carving night :)

Ashley's Cooking Adventures said...

Very cute and makes my tummy growl!

Abby said...

So clever! And congrats on the upcoming anniversary!

Katie said...

They look fantatsic and so deep and gorgeous! More like a brownie cake - love the spiderweb design on top too. Yummy

Unknown said...

Ooh! I might have to make these for the school Halloween carnival.

Sherry G said...

These are awesome! I love the "golden" design and all. Putting a cream cheese layer in the middle was genius!

Julie said...

Very cute...they still look spider-webby to me!

Unknown said...

These look like they would be super rich. I kind of like the golden color of the spider web. Thanks for sharing!

Kerstin said...

What a super cute Halloween treat! KAF recipes are always so good :)

Lisa said...

I love how that spiderweb gets baked into the brownies. Great Halloween idea.

Avril said...

Oh Honey...Happy (almost) 3 Year Anniversary Monica!

Just LOVE your spooky spider web brownies....how did you know I've been wanting a good bite of a lovely brownie?

Happy Sunday!
~avril :-)

Anonymous said...

That is one MEAN looking brownie. Dense and fudgy, with spiderweb effect. Just perfect for halloween!

OvenDelights said...

This brownie recipe looks yummy! Perfect for Halloween!
To answer your question on the Pancake Mix cake......I myself always make my pancakes from scratch, but for this recipe I stock "Krusteaz complete buttermilk pancake mix". I have bought generic brands before, and worked good as well. I have never tried making it with a homemade pancake mix, I'm not sure if it will work or if the flavor will be the same. I yet still have to try adding the orange zest and substituting orange juice for the milk, this combination sounds yummy! Let me know how this recipe works for you. :)

Cassie said...

You know what a sucker I am for cream cheese! And paired with those nice thick brownies...YUM. I can't wait to see what else you have coming up this week!

Susan at www.ugogrrl.com said...

Love, Love, Love chocolate - and these brownies are so fun! My girls and their friends will love this.....

Thank you! Susan www.ugogrrl.com

Elina (Healthy and Sane) said...

I was just looking for halloween treats to bring to a work party this Friday. Spiderweb brownies seems so easy and brownies are my favorite dessert. :D

Megan said...

I love anything brownie, so this looks like a great idea for my daughter's Halloween party.

Natalie said...

happy almost anniversary! :) your spiderweb looks PERFECT!

Mandi said...

Monica, I'm actually making these today for a Halloween party this weekend =) Can you tell me what kind of espresso powder you used?

oneordinaryday said...

Now that's about the only spider web I wouldn't mind having around - not that it would be around very long... :)

Monica H said...

Hi Mandi- I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you.

I use a couple different espresso powders. One I can usually find at the grocery store is Medaglia D'oro and I've also used espresso powder from King Arthur Flour, but you have to order it.

I've also used Starbucks VIA in place of espresso powder as well Folgers instant coffee.

The coffee flavor in these brownies isn't detectable in the final product, it's just there to bring out the flavors of the cocoa.

I hope they turn out well for you!

~MOnica

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