My way of saying thank you - Brownies!!!

Well, first off, a big THANK YOU to all those that have served or are currently serving our great country - you are all AWESOME!!

Second, we have had a wonderful weekend - well for the most part. Friday was busy, Saturday we had friends over for a BBQ and then Sunday and today have been low key because my oldest son came down with strep throat (I didn't think you got that when you didn't have tonsils - but apparently I was wrong) and is now a little funky from the antibiotics. But even with that, we have enjoyed the long weekend and have had a really nice time.

And third, to say THANKS to my military man I made brownies. Really rich, yummy, amazing brownies. I was looking for the "perfect" recipe, but when I couldn't find one that had all the components I was looking for, I decided I would make my own. It's a basic brownie recipe with I added onto. We couldn't think of a name to do them justice but the name "Everything Brownies" seems to fit well because they have a little bit of everything tossed in.

Here are some pictures of my wonderful creation and below I will post the recipe. Make sure to have a glass of milk nearby if you make these because they are super rich!!

Everything Brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter cut into pieces
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate
2 cups superfine sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp really strong coffee
1 Tsp pure vanilla
1 Tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/3 cup flour
1 Tsp baking powder
2 cups good milk chocolate chips

Cheesecake layer

2 blocks cream cheese
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
Nutella (as much or as little as you want)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 9x13 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray (or butter).
Melt butter and the first two chocolates in a sauce pan over low heat until all melted and smooth. Remove from heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add next 6 ingredients and mix until smooth and shiny. Stir in flour and baking powder until combined then fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into pan.

For the cheesecake layer: Mix together 2 blocks of cream cheese, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon until smooth and creamy. Drop by spoonful on-top of the brownie batter.
Now take spoon fulls of nutella and drop between your drops of cheesecake layer. Swirl these together to make the top layer. You can use as little or as much of the Nutella as you want.

Pop in the oven and bake for 40-50 min until the top layer is sort of set around the edges but will still be a little "jiggly" in the middle. Turn oven off and let sit inside warm oven for about 20 more min. Take out and let cool completely before you try to cut.

Enjoy with ice cream and a big glass of milk!!