Saturday, January 3, 2009

Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies


Confession: I don't even like peppermint, but when I saw these brownies in Cooking Light, I knew I had to make them. Unfortunately, I was about halfway through the holidays when I realized that I didn't want any more sweets around. So I decided to save them to make for an open house we were going to on New Year's Day. Sure enough, they were a big hit. Reviews of the recipe said that the peppermint flavor wasn't terribly pronounced, so I doubled the amount of extract. Even I liked these!

Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies
adapted from Cooking Light, December 2008

Ingredients

Cheesecake Batter:
1 8 oz block of 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Brownie Batter:
4.5 oz all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
Cooking Spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cheesecake batter, place cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add granulated sugar and peppermint extract; beat well. Add 1 egg and 1 egg white; beat well. Add 1 tablespoon flour; beat mixture just until blended.

3. To prepare brownie batter, weigh or lightly spoon 4.5 ounces (about 1 cup) flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine 4.5 ounces flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, 2 egg whites, and 1 egg in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add flour mixture to brown sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until blended.

4. Reserve 1/2 cup of brownie batter. Pour remaining batter into a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Carefully pour cheesecake batter over top; spread evenly to edges. Dot cheesecake batter with reserved brownie batter. Swirl top two layers of batters together using the tip of a knife. Bake at 350° for 26 minutes or until top is set. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 213 (32% from fat)
Fat: 7.5g (sat 2.6g,mono 2.3g,poly 1.1g)
Protein: 4.4g
Carbohydrate: 32.3g
Fiber: 0.7g
Cholesterol: 37mg
Iron: 1.3mg
Sodium: 169mg
Calcium: 32mg

6 comments:

Cate said...

Mmmm....nothing like that mint-chocolate combo! And the cheesecake swirl is my new favorite thing in brownies.

What's Cookin Chicago said...

This looks great especially with those perfect swirls!

Kristina R. said...

cheesecake, chocolate and peppermint. I am in heaven.

Chef Jeena said...

The texture of your brownies looks so fabulous moist, yum!

Great blog. :-)

Snooky doodle said...

these look nice and yummy :)

Ellie said...

These look awesome, and my hubby LOVES peppermint!