December 19, 2012

Around this time of year, I suffer from decision fatigue. With the year winding down and the holidays in full swing, I don't want to make any unnecessary decisions.

Especially when the decision is whether to have cheesecake or a brownie. (Ah, if all choices were this rough, right?) Happily, this recipe doesn't ask you to chose; it combines the two.

When I first made these brownies, I swirled a cheesecake topping through the brownie batter. While the result was good, some of the brownie squares had little or no cheesecake and others contained a generous amount. All of the brownies need cheesecake, right? In the second pan, I increased the amount of cheesecake swirl.

But this didn't work. Increasing the amount of cheesecake swirl overwhelmed the brownies, leaving them too fudgy and almost batter-like.

On the next attempt, I reduced the amount of cheesecake swirl back to its original amount but didn't swirl it through the brownie batter. I simply spread it over the entire pan instead of swirling it through the batter. This worked! Each brownie square had a bit of cheesecake and the texture was moist but not unpleasantly wet.

Along the way during testing, I added a little raspberry jam. (Why not?)

Like most recipes, this one welcomes tinkering. Here are a few ideas (please jump in with your own!):

• Make it as written but swap the raspberry jam for strawberry or sour cherry.
• Leave out the jam for simple but rich cheesecake brownies.
• Omit the jam and cheesecake altogether. Without the moist topping, the brownies are a wee bit more cake-like.
• Add chopped, toasted nuts, about 1/2 cup of chopped nuts sprinkled over the batter.

PS Like this FREE recipe? I'd love if it you joined GlutenFreeBaking.com as a member or purchased my cookbooks. Your support keeps the site going! Thank you.

This recipe first appeared December 20, 2011 as part of my "Gluten-Free Tuesday" column on SeriousEats.com