Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

After a very, very long hiatus, I'm starting to think about baking and blogging again. And since today is Valentine's I thought I would share these yummy cookies I made to celebrate this day of everything red, pink, heart-shaped and chocolatey

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

You wanna hear a secret?

I have a whole stash of boxed cake and brownie mixes hiding in my cupboard.

Sure, I prefer a cake made from scratch, but these boxed miracles are quite useful when used for things other than simple layered cakes.

They are my shortcuts to homemade oreos, bundt cakes, and these lemon cheesecake bars.

Some days everyone could use a little shortcut, right?

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

1 pkg of boxed Lemon cake mix
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon peel, grated
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Blend cake mix, butter and egg together with a fork and until a dough forms. Press on the bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2  pan. Set aside.

3. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar, lemon peel and lemon juice. Reserve 1/2 cup of mixture and put it in the fridge. To the rest of the cream cheese mix, beat in eggs. Spread this over the cake in the pan.

4. Bake until set, for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely.

5. Spread reserved cream cheese mixture over cooled bars. Refrigerated until firm and chilled.

Glazed Mint Brownies

Glazed Mint Brownies

Make 1 box Brownie Mix/your favorite brownie recipe (Yes, I love making brownies from a box. I use the Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies mix). Bake as directed in a 9x9 pan. Let it cool.

Mint filling

3 tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp peppermint extract (or more if you'd like)

green food coloring, if desired

Combine ingredients and beat until creamy. Spread over brownies. Let harden a bit in the refrigerator.

Glaze

3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

3 tbsp butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter. Stir until smooth. Spread over the mint filling. Refrigerate until both are set.

NOTE: I have just learned what the difference is between using peppermint extract vs. mint extract. Mint extract contains both peppermint AND spearmint. Spearmint makes your filling taste like toothpaste. And unfortunately the filling has about the same consistency as toothpaste. It tastes fine with the brownie and the glaze, but the filling by itself... Well, I was licking the filling spoon clean and couldn't stop wondering why on earth I was eating toothpaste voluntarily. From now on I will stick with using peppermint extract.