Dark Chocolate Goat Cheese Brownies

sticks make great snacks

Yesterday marked our one month anniversary with Hairy (aka Hair Maclare, Hair Bear, Bubba, Bubbaloo, Bud, Buddy – he’s definitely having an identity crisis).  And luckily, there wasn’t much on the agenda for this weekend, so we got to spend lots of  time with him after being away last weekend.  Lots of walks – an outside beer in Davis Square – a trip to the park – and getting to meet his Auntie Ash and Uncle Sean! They were nice enough to invite us over for dinner so we could catch up and so that they could meet Hairy before he morphs into a 100 lb. monster.

post-piddle

Ash and Sean are fab cooks – they always try new things and somehow I get the sense that in all their attempts at new recipes, there has never been a disastorous outcome.  Their recipe selection and cooking skills are just that good. Sean made this fantastical Lobster Ceviche and Ash concocted a light and delcious corn chowder and Arugula Salad (another recipe that I stole from her) that were perfect compliments to the meaty steaks we had.  A fantastic meal!  And, they are such good hosts that when Hairy piddled on their really nice rug, Ash didn’t even bat an eyelash, but quietly cleaned it up while Dave and I (worst puppy parents ever) enjoyed our cocktails out on the porch.  Ooops.  Ah well, at least he’s cute right?

In addition to Ash’s delicious pie crust french fries with blueberries (GENIUS), I made Dark Chocolate Goat Cheese brownies.  The Vermont Brownie Company  has a version of these that I’ve had a few times and thought “Wow – who ever would have thought cheese would be good in a brownie!”.  There’s lots of recipes for them out there, but this one from My Fancy Pantry stuck out quite frankly because it seemed really easy and really delicious.  And it was.  Oh and they were.

Goat Cheese Brownies
*My Fancy Pantry

INGREDIENTS
*yields about 2 dozen small/1 dozen large brownies

 1 batch of brownies, prepared–but not baked
(I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudgey Brownie Mix)

 1 large dark chocolate bar- cut into chunks

 8 oz. goat cheese

 2 tbsp. honey

 1 tbsp. all purpose flour

 2 tbsp. cream cheese

 1 egg

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your baking pan (I used a 9×13).

2) In a large bowl, prepare your favorite brownies–homemade or from a mix–and stir in the dark chocolate chunks.  Set the brownie mixture aside.

3) In a separate bowl, combine the chevre, honey, flour, cream cheese and egg.  Beat the ingredients together until the mixture becomes nice and smooth.

4) In the greased baking pan, add half of the brownie mixture.  Spread it out so that it covers the entire bottom.

5) Now, add spoonfuls of the goat cheese mixture on top of the brownies you just spread in the pan.  Spoon the rest of the prepared brownie mix on top, as well.

6) Using a plastic knife or a butter knife, make swirls and zig-zags throughout the spoonfuls of chevre mixture and brownie mix, creating a pretty swirled pattern.

7) Bake the brownies in the pre-heated oven until the center is set but still quite fudgy.  (Follow the baking directions for whichever brownie mix or recipe you used– I baked for about 25 minutes).

8) When the brownies are finished, remove them from the oven and let them cool.  Once they’re completely cooled, remove from the pan and freeze–or cut and serve.

The fudgey factor of these is beyond – they are so stickey and gooey that I would highly recommend keeping them frozen, or at least chilled (definitely not out at room temperature for too long).

Hopefully, these were good enough to cancel out the trail of puppy pee 🙁