Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Oh the Escapades of living in a house... with crappy electrical fuses...

The fuse blew, once and I totally forgot to turn the oven back on so that means that the oven was cooling down for like 10 minutes. Oops.

Anyway, these turned out really well despite the fuse incident. They're fairly fudgey, good amount of swirl (if you're a good swirler) and dense. Pretty good combo for brownies, right? I'd totally make these again.

In fact, I'm bringing them to my hair stylist for a thank you for my appointment this afternoon. It's hard when you don't work in a large office to bake anything so I try and bring everything I bake to a variety of people. I gotta share the love!

Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies


Prep: 20 min.; Bake: 45 min.; Cool: 1 hr.
Cost per serving: 37¢


Swirl:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brownies:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, leaving a 1-inch overhang on 2 sides. Mist foil with cooking spray.

2. Make swirl: Using a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add egg; beat until smooth. Beat in sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

3. Make brownies: In a double boiler, melt butter with chocolate, stirring often. Remove from heat; stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Transfer to a bowl; cool slightly.

4. Using a mixer on medium-low speed, beat eggs into chocolate mixture 1 at a time. Sprinkle flour over mixture and gently stir in.

5. Spread 1/2 of brownie batter in prepared pan. Carefully spread swirl mixture over brownie batter. Spoon remaining brownie batter on top. Use tip of a knife to gently swirl through both batters to form a marble pattern.

6. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Remove brownies from pan to cutting board using foil to lift them out. Peel off foil and cut into squares.

Yield: 16 (serving size: 1 brownie)

CALORIES 217 ; FAT 14g (sat 9g); CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CARBOHYDRATE 22g; SODIUM 55mg; PROTEIN 3g; FIBER 1g

All You, MAY 2009