An investigation into brownies

Black and White - Cheesecake Brownies
Home Cooking


Note: not everything went to plan with this recipe so please read the full post to find out about my small disaster and how I experimented to prevent it from happening again.

Brownies are fantastic. Cream cheese is fantastic. Brownies with cream cheese is something I've never even tried and have only dreamt of in the past. I found a few recipes online but they got filed away as "one day, I've GOT to make these".

One day...


Well. One day ended up being TODAY. I didn't really follow a recipe for the overall end product but I chose a Martha Stewart brownie recipe for the base and made my own cheesecake topping. I reduced most of the quantities to end up with just enough batter to line a mini-tin to about 1/3 of its height.

Cheesecake Brownies
Makes 4-5 fingers

Ingredients:

For the brownie base

• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/6 cup of butter
• 1/4 tsp instant coffee powder
• 60g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the cheesecake topping

• 50g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia extra light)
• 1/6 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 an egg yolk (difficult to achieve, I know)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a non-stick saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the coffee powder. Add in the chocolate squares and stir until it's all melted.3. Stir in the sugars. Let the mix cool for a bit before adding the egg. Mix in the egg well to form a smooth mixture that doesn't seem grainy.
4. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the flour and mix until it is just combine. Be careful not to over-mix. Let this mix sit aside for a bit while you prepare the cream cheese.
5. I got uber lazy with the cream cheese part and basically just put the cream cheese in a cup, microwaved on high for 20sec till soft and beat the sugar in. I then beat the 1/2 eggyolk and vanilla extract in too.
6. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
7. Grease the tin you're going to use and pour in the brownie batter. Smooth the surface.
8. Blob the cream cheese mix onto the top, bit by bit to let it sink into the brownie batter rather than just spread across the top.9. Bake for about approx 25min. You want the outside rim of the top to appear puffy and slightly cracked and the middle to be just set. Insert a skewer and moist crumbs should come out (as opposed to a) liquid or b) completely clean).
10. Remove from oven and place on a rack till completely cool and set. Be careful about moving it before it's cool because the cheesecake topping might be wobbly.
11. Serve with a bit of chocolate sauce, berry sauce, ice-cream, whatever tickles your fancy :).


Trouble Shooting...

I had a bit of trouble baking these - the first time I took them out (after about 20min), I hadn't done any kind of skewer test. After letting them cool down, I realized the inside was still completely gooey. I quickly reheated the oven and let them sit there for another 10min or so. During this time, I was frantically looking for advice online about how to best determine when your brownies are ready. Most sources said 'moist crumbs on the skewer' but every time I checked on my brownies, the skewer was coming out of the middle still gooey.

Then, I read up Jamie Oliver's recipe in 'Cook with Jamie' and he specifies that you should take the brownies out of the oven when they are still a bit gooey in the center because the chocolate will set at room temperature. That's the advice I chose to follow.

Brownie explosion - definitely not one of the worst things I've seen. Or tasted

In the end, the center was still too soft. The smell of chocolate was driving me crazy so I tried to take the brownie out of the tin before it was cooled down. Since I didn't use baking paper, this was a bit of a struggle and the whole thing came apart with chocolate oozing out of the center. Perhaps not a 'success' in brownie-making but it looked and smelt irresistible.

So... I didn't resit and tried a bit. The cheesecake part was just right and the outside of the brownie was perfectly set but still sticky. The inside was runny like fudge. If I intended to make a molten-center brownie all along, I would have been happy with the result. Since I didn't, I went on to investigate what went wrong.

First, I cut up my brownie slab into fingers. The outer pieces were perfect as they were because they were already set. The inside ones were too gooey so I put on my thinking cap and did the following:

• 1 went into the fridge to get set further
• 1 went back into the oven for another 10min
• 1 went in the microwave on high for 1min

Results are:

Fridge -
After a good 40min the fridge, the brownie finger I put there came out looking much better than it went in. Indeed, the inside was actually firm and fudge-like. I prefer a slighter cakier brownie consistency but if you're after something that's sticky, don't worry if your brownies come out of the oven still wet in the middle because they'll harden up like fudge in the fridge.

The inside of the brownie has become fudge-like after adequate time in the fridge

Oven -
The brownie that went in the oven for 10min also came out improved. The inside was still moist without it being completely runny like before. In short, I probably undercooked my brownies to begin with. This one again set even more in the fridge.

Twice-baked brownie is a bit brown/hard on the outside but the inside is more set

Microwave -
This was a quick way to see if a bit more heat was all it took to fix my brownies. A minute in the microwave worked wonders. The brownie came out a bit more like cake so perhaps the microwave 'over-cooked' it. It wasn't an ideal method but it's one you can use if you're in a tight spot.

Summary of findings:

The problem with my brownies is a combination of not being cooked enough and not being cooled enough - resulting in a completely unset interior. Both are signs of impatience but hey, I've been deprived of chocolate for a long time!
Next time, I'll let the brownies bake for longer and will cool them completely before cutting. I believe that baking time will determine how much your brownie resembles 'cake'. If you bake for longer, they'll be cakier. If you bake for less time, the texture will be more fudge-like once it's cooled.

Conclusion...

These are the end pieces from the original brownie slab that were baked right to begin with

The result still tasted good though. With the amount of sugar that went into this thing, you'd be surprised a how it ISN'T tooth-achingly sweet. The cream cheese cuts the sweetness of the brownie nicely. I had no trouble with the cheesecake component of my brownies - it set well and tasted good. As for the brownie part, well read above and see.

Next day - edited to add: I had a piece of brownie after it had a chance to set properly in the fridge. Very, very tasty. The chocolate flavor seemed to have 'intensified' overnight and the texture is a wonderful compromise between cakey and fudgey. Lesson learnt = patience is a virtue.