Food Friday: Anytime Special Treat

Ten days or two weeks before Valentine Day I saw a recipe somewhere with author Cathy Trochelman for some chocolate strawberry sandwich cookies.  I knew I did not want to go to the trouble of making cookies but thought that thick brownies, cooled, then split, would be great.

This is what I did:

Made a double batch of Duncan Hines brownie mix into batter.

Sprayed a six-well heart-shaped silicon pan and two six-well round silicon pans with vegetable spray.

Used the quarter-cup portion scoop to fill the heart-shaped wells first then the round wells.  A few of the second round-well-pan portions took a little more batter as I did not want to add another pan, nor did I want to throw away the extra batter. Placed silicon batter-filled pans on large cookie sheet.

Baked them at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. WAY NOT COOKED so I cooked for ten more minutes then for 5 MORE minutes after that.  The heart-shaped brownies and the first round-shaped brownies were done.  The round ones with more batter were NOT done, which I discovered when I released them from the pan...so I just put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

NOTE: The trick with silicon pans, I have learned, is that the pans and their contents MUST cool for at least fifteen minutes before trying to release the nifty food from them.  If you do not wait, at least if I do not, there is a disaster with the contents I have worked hard to create.

These brownies cooled all night on the rack.  I wanted them a little bit hard-ish to cut in the morning. They sliced nicely with my very expensive Cutco cheese knife. Also VERY SHARP Cutco cheese knife. Ask me how I know...  Since they did slice well, I went ahead and made the filling.

My filling:

In a mixer bowl I place one stick (4 ounces) room temperature butter (never substitute!) and 4 ounces room temperature cream cheese.  I beat them in the mixer (the old Sunbeam Mix Master I got on Freecyle!!! My mother had one which was white and rounded and metal and worked ever so well my entire growing up years.  This one is yellow, plastic housing, with glass bowls, and also works well.  Takes the bite away from leaving my Bosch and Kitchenaid mixers home) until they were perfectly combined and smooth.  At that point I poured in 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries that I had thawed overnight. I considered not using the berry juice but then thought that all the flavor is in the juice and left it.

After beating in the raspberries until smooth and oh, so pretty,  I added 4 cups confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time.  When smooth I removed the bowl from the mixer and put a reasonable blob of delicious filling in the center of each set of brownie slices.

At this point, and since it was 28 degrees outside, and also since there was NO ROOM in the refrigerator, I put the covered container just outside the door.  I am hoping that since the doorstep is seventeen steps up that no one, including dogs, will investigate even though there is a light on totaling illuminating the container.  With good fortune the complex management people will not be walking around looking for infractions at 5:15 in the morning.  They DO fine you if you put your trash or recycling out, I have heard, though I find that hard to believe.  I guess it would depend on how long you left your trash out.  There are more dogs in this complex than children but I am pretty sure I have never seen one run free, so I think the brownie treats are safe.

Now we shall see if our office people like them.  They are a pretty good slug of sugar....I won't be taking one myself since I "licked the beaters" and feel that sugar racing through my veins!  That was enough.