February 10th, National Cream Cheese Brownie Day shines a spotlight on an irresistible dessert bar. Combining chocolate and cream cheese has long been a favorite in the bakery. When it’s added to a brownie recipe the results are spectacular.
The brownie has been around since the 1800s but was first documented in 1906 in The Boston Cooking School Cook Book. There are hundreds of cream cheese brownie recipes. However, we also enjoy them cut up into parfaits or mixed into ice cream. Add a dollop of whipped cream, berries or a sprinkle of nuts and fruit and they become a decadent dessert in their own right.
Adding cream to the batter once it’s poured into the pan and swirling it around with a knife gives the finished product an elegant look. It even suggests a celebration when you look at it! No matter how you enjoy cream cheese brownies, we are sure that you will find one that you like.
Maybe you would like to bake a pan of these delicious brownies and share them with your family and friends! Enjoy my fun easy recipe. If you missed these Easy Loaded Brownies this recipe is great the whole year through.
Use #CreamCheeseBrownieDay to post on social media.
Every year on January 31, National Hot Chocolate Day warms people up across the country. Try celebrating this, timeless cold-weather beverage.
Hot chocolate is a warm beverage made with ground chocolate, heated milk or water, and sugar. In America, we often use the terms hot chocolate and hot cocoa interchangeably. However, the two beverages are different. Try it with you favorite cookie or cake if you’re feeling really indulgent, and need a break from that New Years diet you started.
Cocoa vs Hot Chocolate
We make hot cocoa with cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar. We’re able to do this thanks to a process developed by father and son chemists. The thicker, more flavorful beverage, we make hot chocolate from ground chocolate containing cocoa butter. It’s also called drinking chocolate. Hot chocolate has also been around longer than hot cocoa. In the early 1800s, Casparus van Houten Sr. developed a process to separate the cocoa solids from the butter. His son, Coenraad Johannes made those fats more soluble in water. Together their processes made cocoa powder possible.
But before then, everyone drank hot chocolate. This thicker, creamier beverage often offered medicinal benefits for stomach ailments during the 19th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was a rare treat. Especially in some European countries like Britian. Long before the beverage’s popularity in Victorian times, it served in ceremonial culture.
2000 years ago, the Mayans likely created the first chocolate beverage. A cocoa beverage was also an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD. Europe popularized the drink after it was introduced from Mexico in the New World.
Hot chocolate can be enjoyed in a variety of combinations, topped with whipped cream or marshmallows. Sometimes a sprinkle of cinnamon or a dash of peppermint makes the chocolate extra special. In the United States, an instant form of hot chocolate is popular. It is made with hot water or milk and a packet containing mostly cocoa powder, sugar, and dry milk. People enjoy topping it with marshmallows or whipped cream.
There are health benefits to drinking hot chocolate. Cocoa contains significant amounts of antioxidants that may help prevent cancer. It has also been shown that the cocoa beans help with digestion. The flavonoids that are found in the cocoa also have a positive effect on arterial health.
My favorite fact about chocolate is the way it effects your brain. Did you know it signals the pleasure center of your brain? This is why you get that warm contentment feeling after chocolate. One more reason to look forward to those boxes of chocolates at Valentine’s Day. Of course you can always just order your own year round.
Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. You can make it with dark or milk chocolate. While you’re at it, try experimenting, too. Add some cinnamon or other flavors to your chocolate. Of course, inviting a friend to join you is essential to the celebration, too. Try adding these toppings.
Whipped cream
Marshmallows
Sprinkles
Candied fruit
Take a photo and use #NationalHotChocolateDay to post on social media.
