Swirled Goat Cheese and Caramel and Walnut Brownies - the gooey kind

Listen up, bakers! This recipe is to die for, the brownies are dense but gooey, not cakey like Duncan Hines (sorry!). This recipe was completely thought out by Siddharth and it's great. The brownies are gooey and the caramel gives the extra zing to the chocolate, although I must warn you, it will require some work and a lot of patience! The goat cheese and the caramel really compliment each other, with the goat cheese and the walnuts cutting the sweetness. I'm not a huge brownie fan to begin with, but the texture of these brownies was enough to convert me. Adding walnuts gives the extra crunch as well!

Here is the recipe:

Salted Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1 tsp kosher or sea salt
• 2/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature

     In saucepan, heat sugar over medium high.

     Whisk continuously as sugar melts (not whisking will cause burning). The sugar may clump and harden).

      Keep whisking (I told you it will take some patience and man-power!)

      Cook sugar until it is dark amber, and then add salt and butter, whisking until everything is incorporated. As a warning, when you add the butter, the mixture will seize up into a ball. Keep whisking, it's still OK! 

 

Reduce the heat and pour in the cream, whisking briskly to subdue foaming and until a smooth sauce is formed. Again, it's normal for the mixture to seize up, and you just need to keep whisking to dissolve it. Let cool for 15 minutes before baking.

     Chocolate (gooey)  Brownies (adapted from Joy of Baking)

5 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup of walnuts toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Spray with a nonstick cooking spray an 8 inch x 8 inch pan. You can line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper to make the brownie removal easier.

 

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . 

Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour and salt.

Pour into the prepared pan and set aside.

 

   
     Goat Cheese Filling

• 4 oz. goat cheese 
•  2 tbsp. unsalted butter, RT
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp AP Flour
• 1 tsp vanilla

Beat cheese and butter until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, then beat in egg and fold in flour. Mix in vanilla.

For the swirl:

On top of the brownie batter, carefully add the caramel sauce on top. The caramel should cover the brownie batter layer completely. Use a spatula to spread it. Then add the goat cheese filling dollop by dollop. Then with a spatula, spread the goat cheese on top of the brownie layer as evenly as possible. Try not to expose the brownie batter. With a toothpick, penetrate the goat cheese and caramel layers and make swirled designs to your brownies. Let your inner artist come out.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Because of the caramel, the normal toothpick testing does not work very well, so you'll have to have faith in your cook time! Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Dig in!