Cream Cheese Brownies: Gluten Free
Rich chocolatey fudgy brownies with a layer of salty cream cheese sandwiched in the middle. If you like contrasts and bold flavours, you’ll adore these easy-to-make cream cheese brownies. They’re a bit of a crowd pleaser and gluten-free too.
Last autumn if I had any occasion to make a cake, it was my apple and cider cake. The apple season being over, I duly moved on to other things. Having recently come across an apple & cider recipe on Anyone for Seconds and having been given a bag of apples this weekend, I was all set to make an apple and cider cake.
At the last minute, I realised I had forgotten to get any cider and with time fast running out and some cream cheese in the fridge, I ended up making something far more decadent – Nigella’s Cream Cheese Brownies. The recipe comes from her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess. Naturally I changed it a little, both ingredients and method.
I’ve made it many times since.
Why You’ll Want To Bake These Cream Cheese Brownies
- Super easy to make with no need for electric mixers.
- Brownie and cheesecake all rolled into one.
- A crowd pleaser – perfect for parties.
- Minimal washing up.
Cream Cheese Brownies
These brownies are not cheesecake brownies. I have a couple of those on the blog already: apple cheesecake brownies and black velvet cheesecake swirl brownies. Cheesecake is a mix of cream cheese, sugar and egg.
These ones are pure cream cheese brownies and they’re not swirled either. They are in fact unadulterated sandwich brownies. You have a top and bottom layer of brownie with a layer of salty cream cheese in the middle. It produces a brilliant flavour contrast, whilst at the same time tasting like a rich chocolate cheesecake. The brilliant thing is though, that you don’t have to resort to the faff of making cheesecake.
I have an all in one pan method for making brownies, which works brilliantly and creates far less washing up. This is what I use for this recipe.
The tangy saltiness of the cheese cuts through the rich chocolatey confection. The first time my chief taster tried one (blindfolded), he thought it was indeed some kind of cheesecake. He also thought it was absolutely delicious. That apple cider cake didn’t get a look in.
Ingredients
Other than cheese, all you need is butter, sugar, chocolate, eggs and flour. Oh and a little vanilla extract is useful. It adds a few warm sweet notes.
Cream Cheese
You can use Philadelphia cream cheese if that’s all you can get, but I’ve found other brands are often better. Just make sure you use a full fat version.
Gluten-Free Flour
Sometimes I use wholemeal spelt flour to make these cream cheese brownies. But more often than not I use buckwheat flour instead. This not only makes the brownies gluten-free, but it gives them a lovely melt-in-the mouth-texture.
I leave it to you which you’d prefer to go for.
Dark Chocolate
I like to use dark chocolate for these brownies. The slight bitterness helps to make the brownies less sweet and also adds richness. If I have it to hand, I prefer to use an 85% chocolate bar. But do go with your preferred baking chocolate.
Dark Brown Sugar
Dark brown sugar helps to give a fudgy texture to these brownies. However, it does have quite a pronounced molasses taste. If you find it too strong, then use a light brown sugar instead.
Either way, my preference is for muscovado sugar, also known as Barbados sugar. This is one of the least refined cane sugars and contains natural molasses. The darker the sugar, the more molasses it contains. The light version has a lovely caramel flavour whilst the dark tastes more like toffee.
Eggs
When I can get them I love to use duck eggs for baking. You can find out why in this duck eggs are perfect for baking post.
However, most of the time I use hens eggs as they are much easier to come by. You can use either in this recipe.
Cream Cheese Brownies: Step-by-Step
It doesn’t take long to make these cream cheese brownies. More importantly, in my book, the recipe doesn’t produce much in the way of mess or washing up.
Step 1. Melt Butter & Chocolate
Put the butter in a large pan and place over a gentle heat so that it melts. Add the sugar and chocolate. As soon as the chocolate has melted, take the pan off the heat.
Give the contents a good stir. I use a wooden spoon for this. But if the sugar is lumpy, use a whisk.
Step 2. Beat In Eggs
Break the eggs into the pan and spoon in the vanilla extract. Beat into the chocolate mixture with a wooden spoon or whisk until everything is thoroughly combined.
Step 3. Add Flour
Sift in the flour and stir until it’s completely incorporated into the chocolate mix.
Step 4. Layer In Cheese
Butter or line your tin with baking paper. I use a silicone baking mould and just lightly butter mine. Spoon half of the mixture into the prepared tin.
Cut the cream cheese into thin slices and lay them over the brownie mix in a single layer. You want as much of the batter covered as possible.
Scrape the remaining batter over the cheese and level if necessary. I give the pan a few gently taps.
Step 5. Bake Brownies
Bake the brownies in the middle of the oven until the top is just firm to the touch, but there is still a slight wobble in the middle.
Place the baking tin or mould onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. This will take a few hours. Cut into nine large pieces, twelve medium ones or sixteen modest ones.
Serving And Storage
Whilst brownies are often delicious warm, these ones are at their best when they’re completely cool. The cream cheese layer firms up as it cools – perfection.
If you don’t manage to eat these cream cheese brownies on the day you make them, they will keep for three or four days. But because of the cream cheese, you’ll need to store them in the fridge. Just place in a suitable air tight container so that they don’t dry out.
Recipe Tips
Keep the cream cheese in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. The colder it is, the easier it will be to cut into slices.
For deeper brownies, use a twenty centimetre (eight inch) square tin, but bake for 25-30 minutes. You may need to cover the top with foil to prevent it burning.
Baking times will differ slightly depending on your oven and the type of baking pan you use. Bakes in tins generally cook faster than those in silicone moulds.
Be careful not to over bake. You want fudgy brownies, not cakes. Test with an inserted skewer which shouldn’t come out clean but with fudgy crumbs sticking to it. If the batter is still raw, however, it will need another five to ten minutes in the oven.
It takes several hours for the brownies to cool down. If you slice them and they’re still a bit gooey, they will firm up over night. But most of us like them quite gooey, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Other Cream Cheese Recipes You Might Like
- Apple choc chip cream cheese muffins
- Cucumber cream cheese spread dip (or dip)
- Jerusalem artichoke cake with lemon cream cheese icing
- Mushroom tart
- Pistachio kachori filled with chocolate cream cheese
- Vegan cream cheese
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these cream cheese brownies, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more brownie recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Cream Cheese Brownies. PIN IT.
Cream Cheese Brownies
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 125 g dark chocolate (I used 85%)
- 200 g dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 80 g flour (I sometimes use buckwheat flour and sometimes wholemeal spelt)
- 200 g full fat cream cheese (full fat)
Instructions
- Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- In a large pan, melt the butter chocolate and sugar over a gently heat. As soon as the chocolate has melted, turn the heat off and give everything a very good stir.125 g unsalted butter, 125 g dark chocolate, 200 g dark brown sugar
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.2 large eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Finally sieve in the flour and stir until everything is just combined.80 g flour
- Spoon half of the mixture into a buttered 20x25cm (8×10 inch) tin or one measuring 23cm (9inch) square.
- Cut the cream cheese into slices, as best you can and cover the chocolate mix with them.200 g full fat cream cheese
- Scrape the remaining brownie mixture over the cheese to form a, more or less, even layer.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes or until the top is just firm to the touch, but still has a slight wobble in it.
- Leave to cool then cut into 16 smallish slices, 12 medium ones or nine large squares.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Post updated August 2022
With regards to my previous comment – I have eaten somemore of them and I think they’re so much nicer cool. I had first tried them just out of the oven, greedy as I am! Husband and one daughter think they’re delicious. (Other daughter won’t even try them because they’ve got nuts in them!!)
Oh that’s a real shame Maya, but sometimes you don’t quite know until you try. I like the combination of cream cheese and chocolate and I also like the idea of swirling the cheese through the mixture.
Thank you for all your comments BTW 🙂
I made some chocolate & cream cheese brownies, today, using another recipe which has walnuts in too and you have to swirl the cream cheese mixture into the chocolate mixture. I didn’t really like the taste of the cream cheese in it.
Love brownies – never tried them with cream cheese – bet they taste great!
The cream cheese bit sounds interesting.
Aww shucks HFJ – keep those comments coming!
I LOVE this recipe and yours look great! Your blog is really good too : )
delish! Must give these a whirl. 🙂
ooh the job of chief taster certainly sounds like a good one.
You are talking my language ;0)