On Saturday we headed out to the country for a friend's bring-a-plate housewarming party. She and I had already discussed vego barbecue options (she went with eggplant, mushrooms, veg sausages, heaven-sent haloumi and Tofu for Two's tofu cashew croquettes) so I set my mind to something sweeter. Mindful that there'd be a few gluten-averse guests, I browsed my bookmarks for something with little or no flour that would transport easily on the train. It was a post by Sarah Cooks that led me to David Lebovitz's cheesecake brownies.
We've made cream cheese brownies before and comparing the recipes now, there's not a substantial difference between them. If anything the previous version might be a little easier with the cream cheese being inserted as is, as a middle layer, instead of whipped with extra ingredients and marbled on top. And then there's those extra choc chips that David L puts into his brownie batter... drool. The most important feature of both recipes is that they're reasonably light on the plain flour so I could confidently replace it with Orgran's gluten-free equivalent.
The only minor challenge was getting these set. The fudgy batter required the full 40 minutes to cook through in the centre, by which time the cream cheese top was browning and drying out. Maybe I should try covering this in foil in future. Regardless these were rich and moist brownies, enjoyed by many and especially appreciated by the few gluten-free gals who knew their secret.
____________
I won't rewrite the recipe here; David Lebovitz writes the best cooking instructions I know. And he lists both metric and imperial measurements. The man is a legend.
sounds delicious - I have never got on the david lebowitz bandwagon but frequently see posts to nudge me in that direction
ReplyDeleteI notice also that you used foil to line the pan - I never do this as I fear getting some foil left on the baking and thought it was an american thing to do
Yum! Your brownies look great! I also had the same problem with the cream cheese part browning... I don't know how David Lebovitz had his to be perfectly white!
ReplyDeletexox Sarah
Johanna - I don't usually line pans with foil; I was just following DL's instructions there. I believe he's American (though lives in Paris) so that might support your theory!
ReplyDeleteSarah - glad it wasn't just me! I reckon we might be able to prevent it in future by covering the pan for some of the baking time, but I'm a little surprised the very thorough DL didn't mention it in his recipe. :-)