Monday, January 13, 2014
Cream Cheese Brownies
Recently, I had a brownie craving. It lasted for approximately two months, mostly because when I want a brownie, I want a BROWNIE. No Betty Crocker mix. No unsatisfying dried-out ready-mades at the supermarket. I wanted real butter, real chocolate, the real deal, and it took about two months for me to finally come across one at a small bakery in Mandan. It was a very good brownie, and the craving was sated for the moment.
But really, deep down, this was what I wanted. Riffed off Nigella Lawson's recipe in her baking cookbook How to Be a Domestic Goddess (it's the one with that gorgeous black cover and that sexy cupcake on the cover, topped with a little frosting flower as if to say cheekily "Oh, this little thing?"), these brownies are rich, deep, dangerously fudgy towards the almost-underbaked center, and to use Nigella's fantastic term, "palate-cleaving." If boxed brownie mixes are June Cleaver, these brownies are the smokey-voiced, eyeliner-smudged MILF who didn't quite get around to combing her bedhead hair this morning. And that's exactly what I want. Well, in a brownie, at least.
Cream Cheese Brownies
Nigella doesn't sweeten the cream cheese in her recipe, instead just layering in thin slices of cold cream cheese, but I added a little powdered sugar and a splash of milk to lift it to more cheesecake-y heights and contrast against the 72% dark chocolate I used in the brownie batter. As for Nigella? She's going through some tough times right now, but as one of the few celebrity cooks who seems to authentically relish eating good food, I still love her.
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter (or use salted and skip the pinch of salt)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of Salt
7 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup powdered sugar
About 1 Tablespoon milk
Grease a 8" or 9" square pan with butter. Line it with parchment paper and set aside.
Melt the chocolate and butter over medium-to-low heat in a heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large bowl with the sugar and vanilla. In another bowl, measure out the flour and add the salt. When the chocolate mixture has all but completely melted, take the pan off the heat, stir and let the residual heat melt any remaining chocolate while you also let the chocolate cool a bit. With the slightly cooled chocolate, pour a little into the egg mixture, stirring it in to temper the eggs. Then add the rest of the chocolate to the egg mixture, scraping the pan. Finally, add the flour and beat until smooth.
In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar, adding just enough milk to help it come together. You do not want a liquid mixture - the sweetened cream cheese should still be thicker than the brownie batter.
Pour two-thirds of the brownie batter in the pan. Top with cream cheese mixture, spreading out to cover most of the bottom brownie mixture. Then top that with spoonfuls of the remaining brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the cream cheese and brownie batter together a bit.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is firmed up, slightly paled and dry at the edges. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares - the cooler they are, the easier they'll hold up.
Then, as Nigella says: "Reckon on a first, botched slice: cook's treat."
Nigella recipes never fail - these look incredible! I've only made her original brownies but these definitely look like they need to be next on the list.
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