Claire’s Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
These are what I like to call “grown woman” brownies. These are not PTA bake sale brownies. These are dark, rich, knock-your-socks-off chocolate brownies. I was actually bribed for this recipe before the publication of this cookbook. How’d I do it? I have a friend Claire Perez, a French-trained pastry chef, to thank. It may seem counterintuitive to seek assistance from a chef who worked with the master chefs of butter and confection, Jacques Torres and Pierre Hermé, for a “lightened up” brownie recipe. But Claire delivered the goods!
Ingredients
- 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
- 1 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cups cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1/4 cups canola oil
- 6 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
- 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 325°.
- Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the vanilla, stirring until creamy and smooth.
- Separate one of the eggs, reserving the white for later use, and add the yolk to the cream cheese mixture. Stir to combine, then set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and chocolate over medium heat, whisking until the chocolate is melted.
- Whisk in the remaining 1 cup sugar and stir until melted.
- Add the buttermilk, applesauce and vanilla. Remove from the heat.
- Add the remaining whole egg and the reserved egg white, whisking constantly until incorporated to prevent the eggs from curdling.
- Add the reserved flour mixture, mixing until just combined.
- Transfer brownie batter to the prepared pan.
- Using a tablespoon, drop 9 dollops of the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter. Draw the tip of a sharp knife or skewer through the two batters in a criss-cross fashion to create a swirled effect.
- Bake the brownies until the top is just firm to the touch, rotating halfway through baking, about 40 minutes.
- Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
- Coat a serrated knife with nonstick cooking spray and cut into 16 squares.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
