FROSTED CREAM CHEESE BROWNIES OR GOAT CHEESE BROWNIES

Get out your whisk and spatula, don’t disturb your mixer because you won’t be needing it.  Here’s an easy and decadent – but not too decadent – brownie recipe.  It’s not totally fudgy and not totally cakey.  It’s somewhere in between the two, and just perfect for me, with a slight chewiness.  You can make the cheese filling with or without the egg, but I prefer it with.  Save a few calories by using nonfat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  My favorite Greek yogurt is Fage because it's not as acidic as other Greek yogurts and tastes more like sour cream.

Adding coffee enhances the chocolate, making it possible to use less chocolate and have it taste like more.  You can use your favorite frosting, or just spread Nutella over the top of the warm brownies.  You can also leave the frosting off.  Either way, this is my new go-to brownie recipe. 

Making these brownies with goat cheese is even better.  The funky tang of goat cheese plays perfectly off the chocolate.
If you’re a chocoholic, you may want a recipe with more chocolate in it.  Since, like most seniors, I’m sensitive to chocolate, I try to use the least amount that will give me a good chocolate flavor without the jitters.  I’ve seen brownie recipes that use four times this amount of chocolate, but I wouldn’t be able to eat more than one bite.  (Please note that my rating is very subjective per my preceding comments.)

Frosted Cream Cheese Brownies or Goat Cheese Brownies Rating:  10 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

Cream Cheese or Goat Cheese Filling: 4 oz. Neufchatel cheese, cream cheese, or goat cheese, softened 2-1/2 Tbsp. sugar optional:  1/2 egg (about 2 Tbsp.) In small bowl, whisk ingredients till smooth.  Set aside. Brownies: 1/3 cup coffee 1/4 cup (2 oz.) butter or margarine 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped 1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules, decaf or regular 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour 6 Tbsp. white whole wheat flour 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder 1 cup light brown sugar 6 Tbsp. (3 oz.) nonfat plain Greek yogurt, preferably Fage 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. Diamond kosher salt 1 large egg 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips Heat oven to 350F (325F for dark or coated pans).  Spray a 9”x9” pan with nonstick cooking spray, or grease lightly with shortening or butter.  Heat coffee and butter in medium microwaveable bowl on high till almost boiling, or heat in a 2-quart pot over high heat.  Remove from heat and add chocolate and coffee granules.  Stir till smooth.  Set aside.  Combine flours, cocoa powder and brown sugar in a resealable quart-size bag; seal; shake and press to combine.  Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, baking soda, salt and egg till smooth.  Add flour mixture to reserved chocolate mixture; whisk to combine.  Stir in yogurt mixture with spoon or spatula, mixing just till combined.  Spoon mixture into prepared pan.  Top with dollops of cheese mixture.  Run a knife through to marble.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over top.  Bake 20-25 minutes, or till a wooden pick inserted in brownie returns almost clean.  Cool in pan 15 minutes before frosting (if desired) with your favorite chocolate frosting, or with Nutella.  Sprinkle with toasted chopped nuts of choice.  Or enjoy the brownies sans frosting.

DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE SWIRLED BROWNIES, ADAPTED

The original recipe for these brownies looked incredibly decadent, and I am sure they are delicious. But, to save calories and make them more nutritious, I took out a lot of the fat, subbing butternut squash puree for it. I also subbed Stevia for part of the sugar, whole wheat flour for most of the all-purpose, and Neufchatel cheese for the full-fat cream cheese. Are these as good as the original? Probably not, but they're darned good, and carry a lot less guilt. As I've said before, there's no such thing as a healthful dessert, but I like the idea of cutting down and fortifying where I can.

One huge mistake I made: I put the peanut butter cups in the brownies before I baked them. You can do that with cookies, since they don't take very long to bake. But these take about 40 minutes, and that's too long for the PB cups; they melted. I am definitely going to make these again -- they're that good. But next time, I'll put the PB cups on the brownies during the last 5-10 minutes of baking, as Baking Blonde suggests.



Double Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirled Brownies, Adapted
INGREDIENTS:
Brownie: 1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
1 oz. bittersweet chocolate (or baking
chocolate, if preferred)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, soft
3/4 cup butternut squash (or pumpkin) puree
2 large eggs
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat)
1/3 cup natural cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. Creme de Cocoa
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Cheesecake: 4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tsp. Creme de Cocoa
3/4 cup Reese's PB cups, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a square pan (8x8 or 9x9) with foil, letting the foil hang over the edges. Coat the foil lightly with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
Place chocolate in a large mixing bowl and place the bowl in a pan of hot water over medium heat. Melt chocolate. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, butter, and squash, combining well. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients and gradually whisk into chocolate mixture, taking care not to overbeat. Stir in the flavorings.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine cheesecake ingredients, except for egg and PB cups, mixing until smooth. Add egg and beat just till combined.

Spread about 2/3 of brownie batter into pan. Evenly drop 1/2 of cheesecake batter in dollops over brownie batter. Run a knife through both mixtures to slightly swirl. Dollop remaining brownie batter and cheesecake batter over swirled mixture. Run knife through the brownie and cheesecake dollops (taking care not to go through to the previous layer) to creat a swirled pattern. (Note: I didn't follow these instructions. I just put all the brownie batter in, then spooned the cheesecake batter in 3 strips over the brownie batter. Then I swirled that. Next time, I will follow the instructions above, as I think it will make for a better brownie. See the photo below, showing the three strips of cheesecake batter over the brownie batter. There is quite a bit of cheesecake batter in this recipe.)


Bake 35-45 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs. Don't overbake these. About 5-10 minutes before brownies are done, gently place the chopped Reese's over top of brownies. Yield: 16 brownies

OAXACA FUDGE BROWNIES WITH HAZELNUT-CHOCOLATE CHIP TOPPING

Recently, the Food Network aired their "ultimate recipe challenges" in several categories. One of the categories was cookies, further separated into 3 sections (chocolate, spice and bar cookies). One winner was selected from each of the 3 sections, and the over-all winner took home the $25,000 grand prize. Camilla Saulsbury had two recipes accepted for the challenge, and both cookies won their respective sections. One cookie was a ginger spice cookie and the other was a bar cookie. She took home the grand prize for her spice cookie. There is some controversy over Camilla's win, since her credentials seem to indicate she is a food professional (check out her website at camillacooks.com.) I watched the show, and, while other contestants freely talked about their previous experience with cooking contests, she defintely downplayed hers. Actually, she said nothing; and considering the number of wins she has had, that was amazing by itself. I guess the question being asked now is: Is it right for a person who was hired by Pillsbury to develop recipes for their brownie and cake mixes, who teaches cooking classes, who is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and who has authored not one but seven cookbooks to enter amateur cooking contests? Does the Food Network even check these things out?

Getting back to today's recipe, Camilla's winning spice cookie recipe didn't entice me, but her "Oaxaca Fudge Bars with Cashew Crumb Topping" did. Checking the recipe closely, I saw that it was a duplicate of a popular bar cookie and that Camilla had just added some different flavors and the cashew crumbs on top. I had a box of Duncan Hines brownie mix on hand and thought I would try her flavorings with the brownie mix. Since I didn't have cashews, but I did have hazelnuts, I decided these brownies would have a hazelnut-chocolate chip topping. Camilla's flavorings spiced up the brownies a bit, but these are just ok for me. I can't rave, maybe because this just isn't where my tastebuds want to travel, but maybe also because I used a brownie mix and it altered the flavors. Anyway, this is not a bad alternative if you're looking for something new to do to a brownie mix, and the hazelnut-chocolate tip topping is great.

Oaxaca Fudge Brownies with Hazelnut-Chocolate Chip Topping

21-oz. Duncan Hines Family Style Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix

2 large eggs

1 Tbsp. instant coffee powder (decaf ok)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. chipotle chile powder

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup crushed potato chips (optional)

1/2 cup toasted chopped hazelnuts

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray, or grease with shortening. In medium bowl, combine all ingredients except nuts and chips. Pour into pan. Sprinkle nuts and chips on top. Bake according to package directions, testing for doneness with a toothpick inserted 1" from edge of pan. When it returns clean, remove brownies from oven and cool on wire rack completely. Cut into squares when cool. Yield: 20-24 brownies

PRE-GAME FALL-OUT AND PEANUT BUTTER MOUSSE BROWNIES

Guy's Budweiser sign and Cleveland Browns tear-apart doll are upper right, but he attempted to put them over the fireplace. The cherub was in the ivy.
Here's the cherub's mate, trying to catch her kiss. Now she's gone. I'm sure he's sad.
Above, the cherub sat in the ivy with her legs dangling over the edge.

At least the dessert was good. No accidents there, just some drippy drizzle that globbed.
Vacation is over. Since our return in the early morning hours last Wednesday, the week has been consumed with jet lag, then getting ready for our Super Bowl Party. While I was in the kitchen today baking cookies, I heard a crash. "What broke?" I yelled into the living room. "The angel," Guy replied. Guy was trying to put his Budweiser sign on our mantel and knocked over the little cherub that was blowing a kiss to her mate on our antique tier table. It fell on the marble hearth and smashed to smithereens. I guess you could call this fall-out from the Super Bowl. Guy has promised to find me another cherub. In spite of this pre-game incident, our party was a success; and, since we are all Giant fans, suffice it to say we were happy at the end. A Super Bowl upset is always exciting, especially when it's your team doing the upsetting.

I have some party recipes to share with you from the last few days of cooking and baking: lemonny coleslaw, deviled ranch eggs, Krispy Toffee Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies, apricot almond shortbread bars, and tonight's super easy and super good recipe, Peanut Butter Mousse Brownies.

The base of these brownies is from a Taste of Home Contest Winning Recipe (Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies from Country Woman). The filling and topping are mine.

Peanut Butter Mousse Brownies

INGREDIENTS: BROWNIE BASE: 2 squares (1 oz. each) unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I guess you could substitute 1/2 cup applesauce and

maybe just add a couple Tbsp. of butter)

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp. Stevia)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/4 cup AP +1/4 cup whole wheat)

3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I added this, the recipe did not call for it)

1/8 tsp. salt (If you use salted butter, you can omit this)

FILLING: 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

5 Tbsp. confectioner's (10X) sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup fat-free half and half

1/2 pkg. instant vanilla or French vanilla pudding (about 5-1/2 Tbsp.)

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped (or 1/2 cup fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed)

TOPPING: 1/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips or other semisweet chips

1 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. chopped salted peanuts

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350F. In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat; set aside to cool slightly. In a medium mixing bowl, using a wire whip, beat the eggs and sugar until light and pale colored. Add flour, salt and chocolate; whip till glossy and well mixed. Pour into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the brownies test done. Cool completely on wire rack.

To make filling: In medium mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, sugar and vanilla and beat on low speed using electric mixer, till mixture is smooth. Add half and half and beat till smooth. Add pudding mix and beat for at least 1 minute, or till well combined. Fold in whipped cream. Spread over brownie base.

To make topping: Melt chips and butter over low heat in small heavy pot, stirring till smooth and liquiddy. Drizzle in thin rows over brownie in a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle chopped peanuts over top. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight to firm topping before cutting into 2.25" squares. (Tip: Use a sharp knife to cut the brownies. The chocolate drizzle hardens and when you cut into it, the lines of chocolate tend to separate down into the topping, so use a light hand and go slow.) Yield: 16 squares. Warning: These are dangerously addictive.