Cream Cheese Brownies (Maida Heatter recipe)

Cream Cheese Brownies - made December 26, 2021 from Happiness is Baking by Maida Heatter

1 cup unsifted, unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Mixture

4 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, melt chocolate and butter, whisking until completely melted and smooth.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar and vanilla and beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes until mixture is lightly lemon-colored and forms a ribbon when beater is lifted. Beat in chocolate mixture on low speed until combined. Beat in dry ingredients on low speed until just combined.
5. Reserve 3/4 cup of chocolate batter and set aside. Pour remaining batter into even layer in prepared pan.
6. In a separate bowl with clean beaters, beat cream cheese and butter together until combined and smooth. Add vanilla extract, sugar and egg, beating until combined. Pour into an even layer over chocolate layer.
7. Dollop remaining chocolate batter over cream cheese layer and run a butter knife or small metal spatula to swirl lightly.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out with a few moist crumbs, not raw batter. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and serving.

 

First post of 2022. Normally I wouldn't bake or post sweets in January but let's face it, nothing's really been "normal" for a couple of years now, right? Plus, technically, I didn't make this in January when I truly am trying to eat healthier (longest 10 minutes of my life so far). I made several brownies and bar cookies right after Christmas because I was snowed in and literally couldn't leave the house. So of course I baked.

I focused on brownies because I was going to mail them in care packages for Soldiers Angels but I didn't know when I could get to the post office to mail them. Brownies are easy to package up, vacuum seal and put in the freezer until they could go into packages and I can make a run to the post office. I do the same with cookie dough but I don't bake the cookies ahead of time until I can mail them the same day I bake them. Since I didn't know when I could get out of the house, brownies were the logical choice to make ahead of time and be able to box up and dispatched once the snow and ice cleared.

Although, after that big lead-in, I now realize these particular brownies weren't going into Solders Angels' care packages because they have cream cheese in them. Even in cooler winter months in the Middle East, I don't like sending anything with this much cream cheese. A little is okay but not 4 ounces that won't be mixed in enough with other ingredients to hold off spoiling when not refrigerated for weeks.

These went into domestic care packages for friends with a 2-4 day mailing time (vacuum sealed, of course) and that I mailed out yesterday.

I went "old school" and actually used one of my existing baking books for this recipe rather than pinterest. I haven't done that in awhile and need to be better about using my cookbook collection.

As always, Maida Heatter recipes deliver the goods. These were perfectly fudgy and a great cream cheese brownie. Not too rich. It wasn't super chocolaty because the chocolate comes from a semisweet chocolate rather than a dark or unsweetened chocolate. If you want more chocolate richness rather than sweetness, you could try subbing half of the semisweet chocolate with unsweetened while keeping the amount of sugar the same.