Recipe Scene: Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

I found this recipe on David Lebovitz’s blog. He has many delicious-looking recipes there, but this is the only one I’ve made so far. The brownies are very rich and super delicious. David made his own caramel which of course you can do, however they taste just as good if you use a store bought caramel sauce or dulce de leche.

You can play around with the recipe a bit of you like – personally I like a bit more brownie mix and a bit less of the cream cheese, but that’s just me. Doing a few test runs is a great way to make sure you have a constant supply of brownies in the house. If you’re like me and are not mad for salted caramel, you can omit sprinkling the top with the salt flakes.

Ingredients

Brownie batter –
1/2 cup (70g) flour
1/4 cup (25g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
115g butter, cubed
170g) dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup (200g) sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream cheese swirl –
225g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup caramel sauce
flaky sea salt for finishing

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Line a 9-inch (23cm) square pan with baking paper. In a
small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder until well-
combined and lump free.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates over
very low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the 1 cup of sugar. Mix
in the eggs one at a time, as well as the egg white and vanilla, until smooth. Stir in the dry
ingredients just until combined, but do not overmix.
3. Next, prepare the cream cheese swirl. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, or by hand in a large bowl with a sturdy utensil, beat the cream cheese and
1/2 cup of sugar until smooth. Blend in the egg and the vanilla, then mix in the caramel,
stirring until it’s smooth and light.
4. Spread half of the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan. Spoon three-quarters of
the caramel cream cheese mixture in dollops over the brownie batter and use a butter
knife to gently swirl the cream cheese. Don’t overswirl or you’ll muddy the results; you
want good-sized pockets of caramel in the finished brownies.
5. Add the remaining brownie batter to the pan and smooth the top, then spoon the rest of
the caramel cream cheese batter in large dollops over the top and swirl them gently in
with a knife. Sprinkle with sea salt and rap the pan on the counter a few times to level the
batters. Bake until the centre feels just about set but still jiggles freely, about 50 minutes.
A toothpick inserted into the centre should come out almost clean, but with wet crumbs
attached.
6. Remove from oven and let the brownies cool completely, then refrigerate overnight.