The best (naughty) brownies with cream cheese // Enjoying life

Sponsored. This post is made in collaboration with Valio – lactose-free dairy products.

As you all know I try to eat healthy most of the time, but also believe that it is important to not be too strict and allow yourself to enjoy some of the less (or not at all) healthy treats every now and then as well. I rarely post those unhealthy treats on here, since my favourite indulgences are candy or chocolate and not homemade baked goods and such where I can share a recipe. However, my little sister (aka. roomie and recipe tester) is much more of a dessert fiend than I am and she has been begging me to make a “proper” dessert (haha as in not in any way healthified) for ages, so I finally caved in and made her favourite brownies, but with a little cream cheese twist. So here we finally have it, one of my rare unhealthy recipes and let me just say that this one is beyond good!! I feel weird saying it since I’m the one that made them, but I think these are the best brownies I have ever tasted – yes they’re that good!! Everyone that I served these to absolutely LOVED them and asked for the recipe – even my (super baker) friend Kamilla, who is the one I usually go to for the best naughty dessert recipes, so I definitely consider these approved!

I made the brownies using Valio lactose-free dairy products, Valio is one of the leading brands in high quality lactose-free dairy products and they have the largest selection of lactose-free products that I have come across so far. My little sister is lactose-intolerant, but we have often had problems finding lactose-free dairy products (other than milk) for baking and making our treats, which is why we have often just used regular butter, cream cheese etc. (she can tolerate small amounts), but this time I could make her favourite brownies completely without lactose. The brownies taste just as amazing as usual – actually maybe even a little better now that I added the cream cheese – but they’re completely lactose-free so my sister doesn’t have to worry about having to hold back and not eat too much.

For my fellow lactose-intolerant Danes, you can find Valio products in Super Brugsen, Irma, Kvickly, Fakta and Daglig Brugsen.

Brownie:
100 g butter – I used Valio lactose-free butter
2 eggs
2 + 1/2 decilitre sugar (about 1 cup)
1/2 decilitre coconut sugar (about 1/5 cup)
1 + 1/2 decilitre flour
4 1/2 tablespoon cacao powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla powder
A large pinch of sea salt
50 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used 70% cacao)

Cream cheese mixture:
100 g cream cheese – I used Valio lactose-free cream cheese
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla powder
1/2 dl sugar (about 1/5 cup)

I served the brownies with strawberries, Valio lactose-free fraiche (sour cream) and whipped cream made with Valio lactose-free cream to add a little freshness – so good!

Directions:

Start by preheating your oven to 175 c // 350 f.
Melt the butter and set it aside to cool a little. Add the flour, cacao, vanilla, salt and sugar to a bowl and mix everything well together. Add the eggs and butter to the bowl and mix well until you have a smooth and cohesive brownie batter. Gently fold in the chopped dark chocolate. I know you’re supposed to divide the wet and dry ingredients, but I’m lazy and hate having an extra bowl to clean, so I never do that and they always turn out amazing anyways ;)
Grab another bowl (this time there’s sadly no way around the extra bowl) and add all the ingredients for the cream cheese mixture, use a hand mixer to whisk everything well together.
Grease your brownie pan (mine is 20 x 20 cm.) with a little oil and add the brownie batter. Top the brownie batter with blobs of the cream cheese mixture and use a knife to gently swirl through the batter to create a marbled effect – haha and hopefully you’ll do a lot better than I did, I think it would be almost impossible not to! ;)
Bake for about 20-25 minutes on 175 c // 350 f, but make sure to keep an eye on it. It is done when the sides are beginning to brown lightly (but not the top!) and when you can stick in a toothpick and it comes out almost clean, but with a little moist crumbs/batter on it – if it comes out clean then it has already had too much.
Set it aside to cool before you cut it. I cut it into 9 squares and i always cut off the “crust”/sides as well as they are usually a bit dry and I only want that delicious fudgy texture. I served my brownies with strawberries, Valio sour cream (for me) and whipped cream (for my sis), enjoy!