Caramel Cheesecake Brownies

More caramel and cheesecake.  My friend was hosting a tea party for her birthday.  I love going to her house for tea parties because she has the nicest spreads, from the tea pots and saucers, to the white damask linens and tiered dessert stands.  And an abundance of cute food!  I wanted to contribute, and although I would normally bake a cake for a friend’s birthday, I thought that it would be too much for this party.   So I decided on brownies since they could be cut into small squares – perfect for a tea party.  This is the first time that I would make brownies (ever!) and I knew which recipe to try.  For a while now, I have been eyeing the Baked brownie (you know the one from Baked in NYC?) because it has been declared the best brownie of all time by numerous food bloggers.  But of course I wanted to change it up a bit, and so I thought I would incorporate cheesecake and caramel (it seems as though I have a thing for caramel and cheesecake lately) to make caramel cheesecake brownies!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Caramel Cheesecake Brownies

Makes a 9x9 inch square pan.

Caramel Cheesecake

Ingredients

4.5 oz caramel (19 squares of pre-made caramel)

8 oz cream cheese (1 block)

2 Tablespoon sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1.    Melt caramel and a tablespoon of the cream cheese over simmering water.

2.    Beat the remaining cream cheese in another bowl over simmering water.

3.    Add the melted caramel to the cream cheese and beat until blended.

4.    Add sugar and beat.

5.    Add egg and vanilla and beat.

6.    Cool in refrigerator while you make the brownie batter.

*Note: I think it would’ve worked better if I had made a caramel sauce from scratch (like from this post) and added that to the cream cheese.  That way, there would have been no need to heat the cream cheese over simmering water.  But I was lazy, so I used the premade caramel squares.

Melting caramel.

Brownies from Baked

From here and here. I halved the recipe.

Ingredients

½ cup + 2 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

5.5 oz dark chocolate, chopped

½ cup salted butter

½ teaspoon instant espresso powder

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

2 ½ eggs, room temp

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking pan with parchment.

2.    In a bowl, mix flour and cocoa.

3.    In a large bowl, melt chocolate, butter, and espresso powder over simmering water.

4.    Turn off heat and mix in sugar.

5.    Add eggs and whisk.

6.    Add vanilla and mix

7.    Sprinkle four mixture and fold with spatula until just mixed.

Chocolate, butter, and espresso powder melting.

To bake:

8.    Pour ¾ of brownie mixture into the pan.

9.    Pour cheesecake mixture on top.

10. Pour the remaining brownie mixture on top and make swirls with a toothpick.

11. Bake for 45 min or until middle is firm when you shake the pan.

12. Cool completely in pan before cutting.

Bottom brownie layer.

Cheesecake layer.

Brownie batter on top and swirling.

After baking.

Verdict: These turned out great! They were a tad sweet, but brownies usually are.  I loved the chewiness and dark chocolatiness!

Black Bean & Date Brownies with Caramel

We were having a health challenge at work and one of the tasks that we could do to get “bonus points” was to have a healthy potluck.  I decided to make a dessert that was healthy without compromising taste.  Enter – black bean brownies.  I came across many recipes that used black beans instead of flour, which increased the health element, but ignored the unhealthiest part of a brownie: the refined sugar.  Luckily, I found and adapted a black bean brownie recipe that used dates instead of sugar.  So, the only added sugar in this recipe is the caramel topping, which you can certainly leave out.

Some secret ingredients:

a.       Coffee – a little coffee enhance the flavor of chocolate.  Since I wasn’t using Medjool dates which are meatier and softer, I decided to soak regular dates in coffee to soften them.  I also added instant coffee to the batter.

b.      Dutch process cocoa powder –for an intensely dark rich brownie (see picture below).

Left: Dutch processed; Right: Regular cocoa

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Black Bean & Date Brownies with Caramel

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1 cup dates

Hot coffee

2 cups cooked black beans

3 Tablespoon oil or melted butter (coconut oil would add a nice flavor element!)

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon instant coffee

2 Tablespoon vanilla syrup or 1 Tablespoon extract

¼ cup + 3 Tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder

3 eggs

Caramel Ganache Topping

15 caramels

2 Tablespoon cream

Directions

1.       Cover dates with hot coffee and soak for ½ hour until soft. Drain and discard coffee.

2.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking dish with parchment so that the paper hangs over the ends for easier lift (I used an 8x8 inch dish).

3.       In a food processor or blender, blend dates, black beans and oil until smooth.

4.       Add baking soda, salt, instant coffee, vanilla, and 1/4 cup cocoa powder and blend until smooth.

5.       Taste the mixture, and add more cocoa 1 Tablespoon at a time to your flavor preference.  The mixture should not taste like beans or dates.

6.       Transfer mixture into a bowl, add eggs, and blend with a hand mixer.

7.       Pour mixture into the baking pan.

8.       To make the caramel ganache topping, put the caramels and cream in a double boiler and stir over medium heat until melted and combined.

9.       Pour over brownie batter and swirl with a knife.

10.   Bake for 30 minutes.  Cool before cutting.

Dates soaking in coffee.

Caramel with cream.

Before baking.

Verdict: These were a big hit at work!  I was surprised by how tasty and moist they were – an awesome alternative to those traditional brownies that make my throat hurt from the excessive sugar.  The caramel topping gave them an additional flavor element that took them to a whole other level for me.  I made them a few days later with azuki (red) beans and coconut oil, which also turned out really well.