Cream Cheese Brownies : Bake-Along #58

Bake-Along is back after a month's rest! For this week, we are baking Cream Cheese Brownies, selected by Lena, to bake together with Zoe and all our friends who wish to bake-along with us. This recipe is taken from Nigella Lawson's, "How To Be A Domestic Goddess".

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This is a straightforward brownie, where the chocolate is melted together with the butter in a saucepan, and in another bowl, the eggs are mixed with the sugar and vanilla extract. Add this mixture to the chocolate-butter mixture, then fold in the sifted flour. Mix everything to combine, batter will be rather gooey. Pour half of the batter into a lined and greased 9" square pan, and now the interesting part is the cream cheese. The cream cheese is sliced to thin slices and place them over the batter in the pan in one layer. Slicing the cream cheese is not as easy as it seems, it was actually quite difficult to slice them thinly, I ended up with thick slices and flatten them out with my fingers! Maybe it would be better if the cream cheese is left in the freezer for half an hour or so to harden them up before slicing. The other half of the batter is then poured over the cream cheese slices and bake for about 20 minutes until the top is pale and dry, and the centre is still slightly sticky. I baked mine for 23 minutes.

These brownies are very nice. It has a very fudgy, soft and moist texture, with delicious chocolaty taste, and a thin layer of crust at the top with a layer of creamy, salty cream cheese in the centre. However, on the next day, it gets more moister and fudgy, with almost no crust visible, as the crust has turn very moist and kinda blend into one fudgy slice!

Want a slice?

Cream Cheese Brownies
(adapted from "How To Be A Domestic Goddess", Nigella Lawson)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
7 ounces cold cream cheese
(9-inch square pan, greased and lined with parchment or wax paper)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the chocolate and butter over medium-to-low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. While you're waiting for it to melt, idly beat the eggs in a bowl with the sugar and vanilla. Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt. When the chocolate mixture has all but completely melted, take the pan off the heat. The bits of unmelted chocolate or butter will continue to dissolve if left. Leave for a bit longer to cool slightly before beating in the eggs and sugar. Finally, add the flour and beat until smooth. 

Pour half the mixture into the pan, slice the cream cheese as thinly as you can and top the brownie mixture in the pan with these thin slices. Pour over the remaining half of brownie-gunge, using a rubber spatula or whatever to make sure each bit of cheese is covered. Then put in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes : the top should be slightly paled and dry, but a cake tester poked within should reveal a still-sticky center. Cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into little squares, and eat warm or cold, though the cooler they are the easier they'll be to lift out. Reckon on a first, botched slice : cook's treat.

Makes 8-10

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To join our blog hop, bake this brownie and link your post to our Bake-Along linky.

Please visit my baking buddies, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

For our next Bake-Along, we will be baking based on a theme, which is "Theme : Marbled Butter Cake". Bake any marbled butter cake of your choice, and link your post to the our blog-hop linky which will start on 20th March right up to 29th March. Everyone is welcome! 

A friendly reminder when linking to our blog hop :

1. Please mention Bake-Along event in your own post linking direct to any of the hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)

2. Please link only new and current post, related to the current bake or theme provided by us. Unrelated post will be deleted.

3. Feel free to display our Bake-Along badge in your post.

and

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, All-Stars Anniversary Party, hosted by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

(click on any of the hostess blog for further info and to link your posts)

All-Stars Anniversary Party featured chefs :  Ina Garten, Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Curtis Stone, Ree Drummond, Bill Granger, Masterchefs, Martha Stewart, Delia Smith, Donna Hay

click on the link to get the codes :
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