I’m in the midst of a big magazine purge and my latest victim is a stack of Eating Wells from 2004. Turn, turn, read, turn, read, rip, read, rip. I’ve been doing this during dinner while we eat. Nobody cares. Anyway, last night I came across this recipe and ripped it out immediately. There’s no shortage of swirled cheesecake brownies recipes, but this one was so elegantly lightened, with the use of Neufchatel cheese in place of regular, whole wheat pastry flour in place of white, and creative appropriations of egg whites. I had to make these immediately.
Swirled Cheesecake Brownies Pan Size
The original recipe calls for a 7x11 inch pan, but I don’t even think I own a 7x11 inch pan so I used a 9 inch square. And since I liked the brownies so much, I made a second batch, halving the recipe and using a 9x5 inch loaf pan. So if you only have 4 oz of cream cheese in the house, you can do that. Another thing I learned was that the chocolate batter tends to rise up and over the white batter, so it's best to put almost all the batter in the pan (rather than half, as the recipe states) and just save enough regular chocolate batter to dot over the cream cheese.
These were really good and don’t taste at all healthy save for the tiny bit of graininess you get from the whole wheat pastry flour. I kind of liked that, though.
Here's the original version and below is how I made it.
Recipe
Whole Wheat Swirled Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Layer
- 4 oz Neufchatel, softened or ⅓ Less Fat Philly Cream Cheese
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Brownie Layer
- ⅔ cup whole-wheat pastry flour (84 grams)
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar (250 grams)
- ¼ cup extra light olive oil or canola
- ¼ cup strong brewed coffee
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line an 11x7 inch or a 9 inch square metal pan with non-stick foil or line with regular foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Mix the cream cheese, sugar (or sweetener), egg, flour, yogurt and vanilla together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Mix the whole-wheat flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the egg, egg whites and brown sugar until smooth. Add oil, coffee and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and stir or beat just until well blended, stopping once to scrape down the sides.
- Scrape all but about 3 tablespoons of brownie batter into the prepared pan. Pour the topping as evenly as you can over the top. Drop the reserved brownie batter in large dollops over the topping. Draw the tip of a sharp knife or skewer through the two batters to create a swirled effect (I just skipped this because I wanted more white to show).
- Bake the brownies until the top is just firm to the touch, about 20 to 25 minutes (mine took 25). Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Chill thoroughly. Lift from pan and cut into 16 squares.
Cookie Sleuth says
These look delicious, and I much prefer your variation to the original. Happy organizing!
Miss Cakebaker says
They look gorgeous.
Anna says
Morgan, let me know what you think. And thanks for the comment!
Katrina, I'll have to check that out. Thanks.
Gloria, thanks for the tip on decaf crystals. You could get away with using hot water, even. As for the olive oil, I've been buying the extra light Crisco olive oil which has very little (if any) flavor. It's more expensive, but I use it in small amounts so it's worth it.
Mary, thanks for the interesting link. I had no idea! But I do know reduced fat cream cheese works as well as regular in most things. The fat free cream cheese is another story. I wish they'd improve on that or make a new cream cheese somewhere in between with added protein.
Louise, I rip them out and put them in colored folders. It's still not very organized, but I love going back and looking through the folders because everything in them is something I'd actually consider making. Once I made something, it goes into a different colored folder -- one that stays in my kitchen drawer. If I really like something, I laminate it.
Chewthefat says
I've used white whole wheat flour in brownies before, and olive oil, but have never made a lower fat cream cheese variety! Love the way that it looks much more decadent than it actually is--I always find it interesting that what we think of as reduced-fat cream cheese was actually the original fat percentage--it was made 'fattier' in America to suit local tastes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neufch%C3%A2tel_%28cheese%29
Gloria says
Thanks for posting some healthier alternatives! I'm afraid my brownies won't hold together if I use all WWPF, but yours look fine. Also, I've heard Olive Oil cuts cholesterol so it must cancel out the yolks!!! For those people who might shy away from a recipe calling for coffee, use decaf crystals. You get the same flavor enhancing properties and no caffeine (or only a trace.)
Katrina says
Sounds like a good recipe to try.
I made brownies today, too. Nutella Brownies--the only chocolate in them is Nutella. I actually think they're really good. Some brownies I think can often been too sweet and grainy from all the sugar, but these have less sugar since Nutella already has some.
Morgan {Confections from the Cody Kitchen} says
So since they have whole wheat, does that mean I can eat two? 🙂 Definitely trying these out!