Father's Day (Recooked)

After all was said and done, I came out on the other side of the giftless Father's Day smelling like a Cream Cheese Brownie-scented rose. Fat Baby and I went out to Jackson County this afternoon and bought a 4-foot long concrete alligator for The Carnivore. He had been wanting one of these for a few years, so what better time than when I'm trying to get back in his good graces for failing to have a gift for him yesterday (on the most sacred of gift-giving days)?

For dinner, since we still had plenty of leftovers of Baked Ziti with Peppers, I focused on dessert (always a sure route back into The Carnivore's good side). I had planned to make a Peanut Butter Pie, but didn't realize until too late that The Carnivore had eaten all of the cookies that I needed to make the crust with. Alas. In lieu, though, I pulled out my recipe for Cream Cheese Brownies. I cut this recipe out of a Family Circle magazine a few months ago, though I'm not sure which issue it was. In my family we share magazine subscriptions and I sometimes find myself reading issues that are more than a year old by the time they make it to me and then languish in my reading pile before I get to them.

Interestingly, I had already started the recipe before I noticed I didn't have enough sugar. So I ended up substituting brown sugar for much of the recipe, and it came out terrifically. I would have thought the different consistencies of the sugars would have caused a problem, but it didn't seem to (at least in the cream cheese portion of the recipe, which is when I ran out of white sugar and used brown instead). Next time I plan to use brown sugar for the whole thing to see what happens.

Cream Cheese Brownies

• 4 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar (I used 1.75 cups granulated and 0.25 cups brown)
• 1 cup flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla (LOVE the way that stuff smells)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar (I used all brown for this part)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs flour

1. Microware chocolate & butter on high for 2 minutes
2. Stir in sugar until well combined
3. Add flour, eggs and vanilla and stir until combined
4. Spread mixture into buttered 9x13 pan
5. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth
6. Add sugar, egg and flour and mix until smooth
7. Drop spoonfuls of cream cheese batter on top of chocolate and swirl into chocolate by running a knife back and forth across the pan
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes

YUMMY! These will cure anyone's misguided desire for those vapid brownies made from a box mix.

JOKE OF THE DAY (courtesy of Swapmeet Dave):

A woman explains to the doctor, "When I touch my arm, ouch, it hurts. When I touch my leg, ouch, it hurts. When I touch my head, ouch, it hurts. When I touch my chest, ouch, it hurts."
The doctor just shakes his head and asks, "You're a natural blonde, aren't you?"
The woman smiles and says, "Why, yes I am. How did you know?"
The doctor replies, "Because your finger is broken."