I have a confession to make – I much prefer box mix brownies to homemade ones. GASP! There, I’ve said it. There’s just something about the predictability of the way they always turn out the same that I find very comforting. Now that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy these brownies, because I did, but they were just different from what I’m used to.
And while I’m making confessions, here’s another one – I’m currently 34.5 weeks pregnant! While I’m sure many of you may have guessed due to my lack of ability in keeping this blog up and running, it came as a shock to me when a friend mentioned that I never shared this little tidbit here. I’m due mid-October with a baby girl this time around. The Husby, the Fruitaholic and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome a new member into our family and I hope you bear with me as I attempt to balance life with a newborn with this little hobby of mine. To say we’ve been eating a lot of takeout is an understatement. Lately it seems as though if we’re lucky, I might be making a home-cooked meal once or twice per week. I’m really looking forward to having some sort of motivation to get back in the kitchen soon.
But anyway, back to the brownies. I’ve had a major sweet tooth this pregnancy so when Sarah announced that this week’s swap theme was Dessert recipes, I was pretty thrilled. As I’ve said before, I’m not much of a baker but I do enjoy whipping up the (very) occasional treat. And when this one landed in my inbox, I couldn’t wait to get baking.
The original recipe called for Bailey’s but I didn’t have any and didn’t find it very appropriate for a hugely pregnant lady to be buying booze, so I substituted some Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream that we already had in the house. With only 4 Tbsp. of liquor in the whole recipe, I wasn’t too concerned about the alcohol content, but I did feel that the flavor didn’t come through as much as I was hoping it would. But maybe that’s just because I haven’t been drinking for the past 8.5 months.
I also couldn’t find my 8×8 pan for the life of me so I attempted to make these in my muffin top pan. I really liked the individual, precut portion size by baking this way and also that each brownie had a crispy edge and chewy center, but I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to “swirl” the cream cheese as prettily as I was hoping to achieve. Because I used this pan instead of the 8×8, I had to adjust the cooking time. In the recipe instructions, I’ve provided cooking times for both.
Ingredients
- 6 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 3 Tbsp. Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream (the original recipe calls for Bailey's Irish Cream)
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Flour
- 1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup (1 Stick) Unsalted Butter
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 1 tsp. Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream (or Bailey's Irish Cream)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. If using an 8x8 pan, cut a sheet of parchment paper long enough to hang over the sides and place it into the pan. If using a muffin top pan, lightly spray each compartment with cooking spray.
In the bowl of the stand mixer with the wire whisk attached, cream together the cream cheese and the 3 Tbsp. bourbon cream until well combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined, then add the eggs, butter, vanilla and remaining Tbsp. bourbon cream and stir until the batter is well mixed and free of lumps.
Pour the batter into the baking pan (or alternately, scoop about 1.5 Tbsp of batter into each compartment of the muffin top pan). Spread evenly.
Using a rubber spatula, spoon the cream cheese mixture on top and swirl into the batter.
Bake for 45 minutes (or 30 minutes in a muffin top pan).
Remove brownies from the oven, allow to cool 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate brownies at least two hours before serving, and serve chilled.
Source -
Slightly adapted from The Cookaholic Wife
Glad you liked them!
Many congratulations on the birth of your upcoming baby! Even though like you said there’s not much alcohol in the recipe and therefore unconcerned about the alcohol content, it’s kind of ironic that the pregnant lady got the “drunken” recipe hehe
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Thank you! And ha, I thought the same thing
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