Cream Cheese Marble Brownies

It’s good to have a chocolate recipe on hand for emergencies and rainy days. The past few days have been awfully rainy and cold here on the coast of New England, and these fit the bill nicely. Sometimes – not often, but sometimes – it’s nice to have a rich dessert-type snack.

The brownie swirl is rich and dense and complements the fluffy sweetness of the cream cheese swirls. People seem to like them anyway…

Cream Cheese Marble Brownies - makes 16 brownies

1 C butter, softened
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 C milk
3 eggs
3/4 C flour
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 C confectionery sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl using a electric beater or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the cocoa, milk and 2 of the eggs one by one, until well combined. Gradually add the flour.

Using an electric beater or stand mixer, cream the cream cheese until soft. Add the egg

and beat on medium until combined and lemon yellow. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar one quarter cup at a time, on low at first (to avoid a sugar sandstorm), and then increase the speed as the sugar is absorbed, scraping the bowl occasionally.

Pour half of the brownie batter into an lightly greased 8 x 8 inch brownie tin (you could use a glass or ceramic brownie dish, but I like to use a tin, because it’s more responsive to heat and it cools down faster when removed from the oven. But hey, it’s your kitchen).

Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the pan in three evenly spaced columns. Spoon the rest of the brownie batter around the cream cheese columns to fill in the spaces. Shake the pan slightly to make even out the surface.

Take a sharp knife and run lines across the surface in one direction. Do the same in a different direction, being careful not to mix the two components too much. We want swirlage people. Not mixage.

Bake 40 -50 minutes until the edges are pulling away from the pan slightly and a toothpick comes out almost clean from the center. Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.

Ingredient origins: butter – Maine; Sugar – Florida; Equal Exchange cocoa powder – Dominican Republic (by way of the Netherlands); Milk – Massachusetts; Eggs – New Hampshire; Flour – Vermont; Organic cream cheese – Unknown; Confectionery sugar – Unknown