Swirled Cheesecake Brownies

I'm going to a girls' night tomorrow night at my friends' new house, and when I asked what they all wanted me to bring for dessert, I gave them the options of cookies, brownies, cheesecake, ice cream, or all of the above. Of course, when you're given an all-of-the-above dessert option, that's what you choose. But I did all of us a favor and only chose 2 of the 4 options. Hopefully they won't kick me out when I get there.

I made some modifications. The original recipe called for whole-wheat pastry flour, but I wasn't very interested in searching around for such a thing in order to make these treats only a smidge healthier (I used cake flour instead). I also didn't use super strong coffee since I only had normal-strength coffee on hand. The only other thing was that I used an 8x8 pan, which increased the baking time a bit. I've included all these modifications below.

I've yet to try these brownies, but I'm imagining they're super tasty. They certainly smell and look good. I'm planning on letting them cool completely and then sticking them in the fridge overnight and waiting to cut them until right before I head over to my friend's house. A reviewer on the Food Network site said that these were goopy, so I figure getting them as solid as possible will help cutting them without making too much of a mess. I'll be back with my review...

Edited to add: I'm very glad I refrigerated these before I attempted to cut them. They were indeed very goopy and were a little hard to cut without a bit of a mess. But they were definitely worth the mess. Yummy and will please any fans of cheesecake.

Swirled Cheesecake Brownies
A variation on this recipe from EatingWell.com



Cheesecake topping:
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brownie layer:
2/3 cup cake flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat am 8-by-8-inch brownie pan or baking pan with cooking spray.

To prepare topping: Place cream cheese in a small mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and beat until smooth. Add egg, flour, yogurt and vanilla; beat until well blended. Set aside.

To prepare brownie layer: Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl. Place egg, egg whites and brown sugar in a separate bowl and beat with the electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add oil, coffee and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed just until well blended, stopping once to scrape down the sides.

Scrape about half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Slowly pour the topping evenly on top. Drop the remaining 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.

Bake the brownies until the top is just firm to the touch and toothpick inserted about an inch in from the side comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Coat a knife with cooking spray and cut into bars.