Goat Cheese Swirl Brownies
These thick, fudgy dark chocolate brownies swirled with sweet, creamy goat cheese are like cheesecake brownies only better. Made with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and tangy goat cheese.
creamy goat cheese swirled brownies
Back in the height of the Food Network days of my childhood, I remember watching one of those deep-dive shows into a goat farm somewhere in the Northeast where, at the end of the episode, there was a montage of bleating goats, cheese-making machinery, and thick brownies swirled with fresh goat cheese. Those brownies made a permanent impression in my my mind so to say that I have been thinking of this recipe for the past 15 years is not an exaggeration. Thankfully, I found myself with a Costco-sized goat cheese log in the refrigerator that was just begging to be swirled into brownies.
about these goat cheese swirled brownies
The base for this recipe starts with my long-time favorite fudgy brownie recipe. I spent about 5 years testing and tweaking this recipe so you know it’s a good one. They are thick and deeply chocolate-y and come together in just a few minutes using minimal dishware—always a win in my book. Then we make a sweetened goat cheese mixture and swirl it through the batter just before baking. They are sweet and simple and a little bit fancy, just how I like my baked goods.
ingredients you’ll need for goat cheese swirled brownies
Chocolate. The most important part of any brownie recipe. This recipe has a base of melted chocolate + the addition of a little cocoa powder. I like to use the Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus Chocolate Baking Bars because they are quality-chocolate at an affordable price. You can either use dutch-processed or dark cocoa powder for this recipe—the darker the better in my opinion.
Butter. This recipe uses butter as our fat source and it’s melted with the chocolate in a double boiler. Because we’re using it in a melted form, if you want to play around with flavor, you could experiment with olive oil or coconut oil for a slightly different flavor.
Espresso Powder. Espresso goes beautifully with chocolate. You can use espresso powder or instant coffee granules in this recipe.
Eggs. This recipe uses 6 eggs in total, 5 in the brownie batter and 1 in the goat cheese mixture. Egg yolks provide fat and emulsification, while whites contribute to the structure of the brownie. In the brownie batter, we are using 3 whole eggs and 2 of the egg yolks, while the remaining 2 egg whites are whipped with sugar to create our crackly brownie crust.
Brown Sugar. I love the sticky, caramelized flavor that brown sugar adds to this recipe.
Granulated Sugar. Half of the granulated sugar in this recipe is whisked directly into the brownie batter and half is whipped into the egg whites to create a meringue that will give us a crackly, brownie crust. We’ll use another 2 tbsp to sweeten the goat cheese mixture.
Flour. We are using one cup of all purpose flour in this recipe.
Goat Cheese. The star of the show, we are using 8 oz of plain goat cheese for the swirl layer.
Salt, Heavy Cream, and Vanilla. A pinch of salt is added to both the brownie batter and the goat cheese mixture. A splash of heavy cream can be used in the goat cheese mixture to help loosen it and make it a “swirl-able” consistency. I scraped the vanilla bean seeds from one vanilla bean pod for the goat cheese swirl, but you can substitute 2 tsp of vanilla extract.