Mourning - Chocolate Expresso Cheesecake Bars

It's been 11 days since I last posted.  So many things to do...  Also so many things baked and to bake, but most of them repeats.  I do, however, have a recipe for Not-Quite-Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting that I made for a friend's very belated birthday.  But before I can share that, some very sad news.  

I apologize to anyone who reads, this one is long.  This past Saturday, my boyfriend took me to his tae kwon do picnic.  During this picnic (on the beach, a little cool and breezy, yummy food, very pleasant except for getting lost and finding the post office closed, but I'm getting off-topic), there were several games of dodgeball.  Apparently, it's a very popular tradition on these picnic/social gathering things.  

So everyone plays, and I am shoved into the game at the last minute.  Now, I dislike sudden things.  I dislike sudden loud noises, and despite my current love for Ultimate Frisbee, I dislike things suddenly thrown at my head.  Which is where people aim for maximum intimidation.  So I carefully set my disc, camera and boyfriend's cell phone aside and timidly step into the fray.  Immediately, the other team grabs all the balls and launches a full-out attack at top velocity.  I am hit on the arm at approximately 20 mph (guesstimation) and my adrenaline immediately spikes.  Now, when my adrenaline spikes, my reflexes don't heighten (I guess you can't help what isn't there to begin with...), my awareness doesn't sharpen (again, didn't exist before) and my senses don't improve, but I do start shaking.  Like a Richter 8.  I gratefully sprint out, but alas, boyfriend's dad is a very good catch and I am punted back in.  I do manage to peg one guy, but of course, as I try to catch the ball hurtling towards my chest, it bounces off.  So I am out again, and only watch as the game ends soon.  However, as I try to pick up my disc, camera and the cell phone with cold, shaky hands, the unforgivable happens.  

My camera, faithful companion of over a year and stout survivor of many drops and falls, slips and crashes to the unyielding concrete.  It bounces once and lies still, an ominous omen of what I'll find when my unsteady fingers delicately caress its wounds.  

At first glance nothing is wrong, but my numb finger slides the familiar switch on and nothing.  Slowly, light spreads across the screen, revealing the full carnage.  There is a crack on the center, about far right on the screen.  It resembles a bullet hole, with all its shock damage.  Cracks spiderweb out and cover the screen in whiteness, only permeated by flecks and thin, hard lines of technicolor and black that reveals a computer in a coma.  The only bit of screen left to reveal the camera's power is a slender slice on the far left.  It's impossible to tell whether the object is in focus.  Through my own idiocy and clumsiness, I have just destroyed my smallest travel companion and consistent artist.

I miss my camera.  Although it was a small, digital point-and-shoot, it was a good camera.  While occasionally cranky and refusing to focus in macro, it always gave me reliable scenery shots, particularly night scenery for low-light conditions.  Many car trips at night were spent painting streaks of light on highways, many car trips in the day spent trying to capture road signs as they flew by at 70 mph.  All of my photos in the blog prior have been taken with this camera.  I am not yet ready to bid farewell, but it may be too expensive to fix.  If my camera never works again, these extravagant bars will be the last food it ever photographed.  Savor with care.

Camera still works, but the screen... :(

Chocolate Expresso Cheesecake Bars tweaked from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle
Makes 1 9" x 13" pan full, about 24 bars (but I cut them smaller)

Brownie Layer

Ingredients
4 ounces (about ⅔ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
7 tablespoons (almost 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant expresso powder (powder! Not granules!  Crush them first)
¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup all-purpose flour

Equipment

1 small, microwaveable bowl (for melting chocolate and butter - it gets reused)

1 rubber spatula

1 wooden spoon

1 medium bowl

¼ teaspoon measure

1 tablespoon measure 

⅓ cup dry measure (for chocolate, if scale is conspicuously missing from dorm room)

½ cup dry measure (for sugar and flour) 

1 9" x 13" baking pan

Enough parchment paper to cover the bottom and hang over the sides of the pan

Directions

1. Prepare the pan by lining it with the parchment paper.

2. Melt the chocolate in the bowl.  You can use a double boiler, but in a college dorm room, those are rare.  The microwave melts chocolate best at around 50% power.  Check after each 30-second interval, the chocolate only took a couple minutes to melt.  Melt in the butter and gently stir until smooth and creamy.

3. Beat the eggs until smooth, then mix in the sugar, expresso powder (not granules!), salt and vanilla extract.  Gently stir in the chocolate and butter, scraping down the sides.  Then gently fold in the flour until just combined.  Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Set aside until cheesecake layer is mixed.

Cheesecake Layer

Ingredients

⅓ cup coffee (I used ⅓ cup water and about a teaspoon of the instant coffee)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (saved from the brownie layer)

4 ounces (about ⅔ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 8-oz. package full-fat cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

⅔ cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

Equipment

The same bowl you used for melting chocolate and butter earlier

The same rubber spatula

The same wooden spoon

The same medium bowl

1 2-cup liquid measure

1 teaspoon measure

½ cup dry measure

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl.  Let it coolr.

3. Beat the cream cheese until soft and creamy with no chunks, then gradually mix in the sugar.  Mix in the chocolate and butter, then the vanilla extract and sour cream.  Add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. 

4. Carefully pour the cheesecake batter evenly over the brownie layer.  Bake the whole thing at 325°F for about 30-35 minutes, until only a little bit jiggly when nudged.

Topping Layer

Ingredients

1 cup sour cream (originally called for 1½ cups, but I didn't buy enough)

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 ounces (about ⅔ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Equipment

The same bowl you've now used twice before

The same rubber spatula

The same wooden spoon

Do you sense a trend here?

1 2-cup liquid measure

1 teaspoon measure

½ cup dry measure 

Directions

1. Mix together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla in the liquid measuring cup.  Melt the chocolate in the bowl in the microwave.

2. Once the chocolate is melted and cooled a little, mix about ¼ of the sour cream topping into the chocolate to lighten it.  You now have vanilla topping in a measuring cup and chocolate topping in a bowl.

3. When the cheesecake bars are ready, pour the vanilla topping on top of the hot bars in an even layer.  Dollop the chocolate topping on top of the vanilla, then gently swirl with the tip of your teaspoon measure.  Try not to swirl too much.  Put the whole thing back in the oven and bake at 325°F for another 10-15 minutes.  Don't let the topping brown too much or the sharp contrast will be lost and your topping will crack.

4. Allow the bars to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.  They can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

It's a chaotically marbled!  Do you see the alpha?

There it is!  I didn't intend for this to happen...

Enjoy!  May your camera always be safe from the ground.

Taken by a lovely friend of mine, since my camera is currently non-operational.