Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies & Sea Salt Sweet Book!

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If you love that salty sweet combo, grab up this book STAT! I’m so excited that she asked me to be a part of her blog tour and I got permission to share a sample recipe from the book with y’all. Hooray!

My Homemade Brownies recipe is one of my most popular, so I know you will love these Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies! 

How amazing do these Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies look? I just want to grab one right off the photo. If you’re a lover of food styling and photography (like me!) then consider this a goldmine of a book. The gorgeous photos are just works of art to flip through. It’s surely a book that will have a “front and center” spot on my cookbook shelf!

Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies

Author: Courtney Whitmore

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Ingredients

  

Bittersweet Brownie Layer:

• Unsalted butter and flour - for baking pan
• 8 ounces/230 g bittersweet chocolate - coarsely chopped
• 6 ounces 1 1/2 sticks/170 g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 cups/300 g granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs - at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup/120 g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 1 cup/130 g walnut pieces

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 16 ounces/450 g cream cheese - softened
• 4 tablespoons 1/2 stick/60 g unsalted butter,softened
• 3 cups/360 g confectioner's sugar
• seed of 1 vanilla bean

Semisweet ganache glaze

• 6 ounces/170 g semisweet chocolate - finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons/30 g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup/120 ml heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• Maldon flake sea salt

Instructions

 

Make the Bittersweet Brownie Layer:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C.
• Butter and flour a 13 x 9-inch/33x23 cm baking pan; set aside.
• Place the chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan and place the pan over low heat. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted and well combined. Remove the pan from the heat source and pour the chocolate mixture into a large mixing bowl. Let the mixture stand until it is barely warm to the touch, about 10 minutes.
• Stir the sugar into the cooled chocolate mixture with a large wooden spoon. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well between each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour and salt and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the walnuts.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and smooth evenly with the back of the wooden spoon. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan.

Make the Cream Cheese Layer:

• Combine the cream cheese, butter, and confectioner's sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer until just combined. Increase the speed to high and beat for 3 minutes, or until the mixture lightens in color. Add the vanilla seeds and beat for 1 minute longer.
• Spread the frosting evenly over the brownie layer and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Make the Semisweet Ganache Glaze:

• In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate, butter, and heavy whipping cream. Cook over low heat, stirring slowly and constantly with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat source and stir in the corn syrup. Let the glaze cool to room temperature, about 25 minutes. Pour the glaze over the set cream cheese layer and use an offset spatula to spread the glaze evenly to the corners of the pan.
• Chill the brownies for 3 hours, or overnight. Cut the chilled brownie slab with a sharp knife. Garnish each slice with a 2 finger pinch (meaning, pinch the salt between your thumb and 2 fingers) of Maldon salt; add more to taste. The brownies will keep, well covered, in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Oh, other fun news!  Heather’s also giving away a CIA Professional Series Vitamix (brushed stainless) on her blog today! Hop on over there to enter to win.

SEA SALT SWEET

If you’ve ever dipped pretzels in melted chocolate or sprinkled salt over a juicy melon slice, then you’ve discovered the magic alchemy in mixing saltiness with sweetness. The recipes in Sea Salt Sweet take it up a notch, combining these two great tastes in ways you’ve never imagined. Award-winning blogger and master baker Heather Baird teaches you how to use fine artisan salts — from Maldon Sea Salt and Red Hawaiian Salt, to Himalayan Black and French Grey Salt — to make mouthwatering desserts for any occasion. From sure-to-please classics like Chocolate Chunk Kettle Chip Cookies and Lemon Pie with Soda Cracker Crust, to more exotic choices like Black Sesame Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream or Smoke & Stout Chocolate Torte, Sea Salt Sweet offers delectable “must-try” treats for the salty-sweet lover.