Boozed Up Recovery Brownies

The Sinful Southern Sweets Family has made it back home. Finally! I survived....barely. Oh, where did we go?? Well, "The Happiest Place on Earth", I have been told some call it, Disney World. "The Happiest Place on Earth" it was not. Adventuresome....it was. A little too adventuresome for me. Since returning, I am in need of some major sweet comfort food. I'm going to give you  a re-cap of my trip. Perhaps, it will give you some insight to my need for comfort and recovery.

1) Due to my husband's severe detestation of flying, we drove to Orlando. It takes a very long time to get to Orlando via car with children. We decided to break up the driving time into two days. So we stopped and spent the night a little over half way to our destination. This began our adventure. After blissfully sleeping for about 2 hours, the hotel fire alarm began blazing. I had never heard this sound before. Unfortunately, the phone and alarm clock received the brunt of my frustration. The sound was so loud we thought it was resonating from our heads. After nearly dismantling the alarm clock and leaving it by the front door, Mr. Sweets tells me he thinks its the hotel fire alarm. Though days later, he was still curious as to why I had taken the alarm clock over to the door. I have no answer. I only wanted the sound to stop. I suppose the hotel did not burn down, as we did continue our journey the next morning. I did, however, notice a large group of college soccer players in the lobby the next morning. I'm nearly certain that one of them was the culprit...
2) Despite the fire alarm incident, I still awoke at my normal time of 4am to have my coffee....alone. I stared at the coffee maker trying to figure out where the "pot" was. I finally figured out that it was some kind of fancy "Pod" coffee maker. To make a long story short, this coffee maker, made a cup of coffee at a time and shot it straight into your little styrofoam cup. And it was a 1 cup cup, not 2 cup cup. It took a long time to get my coffee fix that morning. 
3) We arrived to our destination to find Disney World an amazing place. Everything was very cute and dreamlike in the Magic Kingdom. The parking lots were even named after all the little Disney characters. Mainstreet USA smelled of sweet, freshly baked cookies. We rode the famous Dumbo ride. The children seemed happy. And for a moment, I was almost convinced that this truly was the happiest place on earth.
4)I awoke the first morning in our new hotel, to find that there was indeed a larger coffee pot. It was a 4 cup coffee pot! Whoohoo! Learned a very important lesson on this day. I will share so that you will not have to learn the way I did. Lesson: A 4-cup coffee pot will only brew 4 cups. If you insist on trying to brew 6 cups, the extra 2 cups will flow from the filter basket along with coffee grinds and pour onto all clothes, luggage and makeup that are lying on the floor below. Lovely!
5) Large resorts are very nice, but it could mean that you will have to walk about 2 miles through the hotel to get to breakfast. I decided that I could live without breakfast, as long as I had my coffee.. Unfortunately, the Runwilder girls do not like coffee and demanded I feed them actual food. So we got a good workout every morning before heading to the theme parks. A small price to pay, I suppose, for happy children.
5) For my husband, this was a business trip. He was in meetings and classes most of the time. So, I was alone with the girls when going to Disney World. I also had an extra little girl with me that was 8, since her dad was in meetings with my husband. On Saturday, we had a nice long day. Rode all the classic rides, saw the princesses, and began our walk back to the monorail (you must take this to get to the parking lots). Then, the 8 yr old decided she could walk no more. She was simply going to collapse. I let her sit for a few moments. I purchased $60 dollars worth of Mickey Mouse ears and 3 frozen lemonades for the girls. Apparently, bribery does help little legs to start functioning again. On the monorail, I decided to dig my keys out of my backpack, so the girls would not have to endure the Iraqi desert-like heat for a moment longer than needed. We get all the way to the parking lot (Pluto's Parking Lot, I believe it was) and I realized it. Those keys were no longer in my pocket. They had fallen out on the monorail....I was at a complete loss. I made my way to Lost and Found, then back to the monorail just to check to see if anyone turned them in. No, no keys. So, finally, I decided to catch a cab back to the hotel. Oh, but this was ok with the girls. They were squealing with excitement that they were going to get to ride in a yellow taxi cab. With no carseats! And no seatbelts!!! You can imagine my excitement as well..... We were greeted by Mr. Sweets at the hotel with a few kind words and lunch waiting in the room for us. He could have really given me a hard time, but he's nice like that :)  I did tell him that if the bill indicated that all the alcohol from the mini bar had been consumed, it was not a mistake. Disney+3 kids+lost keys WILL make a non-drinker turn to drinking. Oh, and just so you know. It does pay off to be obsessive compulsive when packing. Otherwise, we would not have had that extra set of keys packed away in the luggage.
6)My final adventure (that I'm willing to divulge) occurred the last night of the convention. There was a huge party. It was a costume karaoke party. Individuals that wanted to sing karaoke, could dress as their favorite singer. They were backed up on stage by a full band. Not your average karaoke!! Very nice party. The company required you wear your company credentials to enter so that every person staying in the hotel did not decide to join in on the very nice party. Nonetheless, I eventually decided despite all the fun,  the girls might be getting a little too rowdy for the karaoke party, so I headed back to the room with the girls. Now, the ballroom that the party was in was in the same area that breakfast had been served (2 miles from the room, or so it seemed). I get back to the room and realize my cell phone is missing. Made a $9 long distance call to Mr. Sweets, but he can't hear his phone over the karaoke music. So we got re-dressed, made the 2 mile trek back to the party. Get to the door and realize I have forgotten my darn credentials to get back in the party. Well, thankfully the guy at the door had already had a couple of drinks and was laughing it up with some fella' dressed like Willie Nelson, so was able to just slip in behind him. And I did in fact find my phone!!

Despite the fire alarm, the desert-like heat, the lost keys/phone, the lack of coffee/sleep, etc...we really did have a good time. We met some very nice people, and made some wonderful memories.  But, now you see why I'm in need of a little recovery. My recipe today has all the major requirements needed to recover from an adventuresome trip to Disney. The requirements are: Booze-check, Chocolate-check, Coffee-double check (coffee liquor and coffee granules). This should certainly get the job done!! Enjoy!

Boozed Up Recovery Brownies
AKA Kahlua Cream Cheese Brownies
adapted from here
Cheesecake Filling
8 ounces cream cheese (1 package), at room temperature
5 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur)
Brownie layer
Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pan
1 package brownie mix (19.8 ounces)
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
2 large eggs
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
Prepare the filling. Place the cream cheese,  butter, sugar, egg and Kahlua in a large, mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer on low speed, or with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Set the bowl aside.
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly mist the bottom of a 13- by 9-inch pan  with vegetable oil spray. Set the pan aside.
Place the brownie mix, oil, Kahlua, coffee, chocolate chips and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter lightens in texture, 50 strokes.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly with a rubber spatula.
Spread the cream cheese filling over the top of the batter, and using a dinner knife, swirl it into the batter to create a marbled effect.
 Bake the brownies until they are lightly browned and the outer 2 inches form a crust, 27 to 32 inches. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes. Cut the brownies into 24 squares.