Black and White Brownie Bars – The crème de la crème of brownie bars. These brownies have a moist fudgey inside and a chewy outside, add the silky cream cheese layer and you will be reaching for your eating pants.
Strange as it may sound, I don’t usually eat too many of my sweets once finished. After tasting the batter along the way, nibbling a corner as it comes out of the oven and then a second nibble once cooled—I pretty much have my fill of it. But with these, the chocolate and cream cheese pairing intoxicates me and my OCD inclination to finish what I start surfaces. So as usual from oven to mouth, I was third of the way through the pan when my three-year-old reminded me we don’t have sweets before dinner—Yep, thanks, Buzz Killington.
These are so easy and so good; it may just become your go-to brownie recipe.
A few notes:
• These are terrifically easy to make. I generally use a scale for most baking to measure everything out, but this recipe is pretty forgiving so you can bypass the scale on this one.
• The lattice top is accomplished by placing 1 cup of batter in a pastry bag and piping it onto the cream cheese topping with a #3 tip.
• I made these just the other day and piped a shamrock for every cut square instead of the lattice and it turned out super. If you choose to do a motif, don’t forget the batter will expand on top of the cream cheese while in the oven.
• My secret to making this one of the best brownies: Scharffenberger’s Cocoa Powder. It packs a nice mellow chocolatey flavor without overwhelming the cream cheese and the texture of the brownie.
• If you forget to soften your butter, melt the stick ¾ of the way through in the microwave. Oddly, this doesn’t seem to affect the recipe.
The recipe is from Martha Stewart’s 2009 Holiday Magazine. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/aKrHFY
