Sinister Brownies

I saw the recipe for these oh so evil brownies at this wonderful blog called sugar plum. The minute I saw them I had no choice but to  try them out! Here's why, they started haunting me.period. Yes they haunted me in my day dreams at work (pssst.. that's where I discovered the recipe, when I was taking my well earned 10 minute break). They haunted me while I was at my daily 6k jog!

They are evil. They are rich. They are sooo unbearably delicious! You just want to keep 'em coming!

Some pointless information regarding myself - since I will be going off to university in like 18 days or so ( I'm going to The university of Nottingham - Malaysia campus), I've been really busy accumulating very important necessities - like a french press to make really REALLy REALLLLLY frothy hot chocolate - OMG I'll tell you about that later). Anyway yesterday we got all the food thingies and beautifying equipment (lotion, potions..)! So I'm really happy about that - it makes it all so real! I never thought that my way overprotective parents will ever part with me - ever! But I guess the beautacious 'A' that I got in my A-level economics did the trick! :D

The recipe from sugar plum

Oreo Cream Cheese Swirled Brownies

• Ingredients:

1) 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

2) 3/4 cup granulated sugar

3) 8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened

4) 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

5) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6) 1 cup all purpose flour

7) 1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder

8) 1/2 teaspoon salt (scant)

9) 2 large eggs

10) 1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped Oreo cookies

• Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch square baking dish with foil; coat foil with cooking spray.

2) Melt the butter in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Whisk in sugar and bring to a boil, whisking frequently; boil 1 minute. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

3) In a small mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract, until well combined, about 1 minute.

4) In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt; whisk until combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, until combined. Whisk in melted butter-sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in flour mixture until just combined, followed by Oreo cookies.

5) Spread half of brownie batter into baking dish, followed by cream cheese layer; dot the top with remaining brownie batter, and spread evenly, as best as you can. Run a knife through batter to make "swirls".
Bake at 350 degrees F, for 23-25 minutes (I kept mine in the oven for around 35 min because I thought they weren't done - but I should have taken them out earlier - well every body's gatsta learn somewhere)

6) Cool on a wire rack to room temperature before slicing. Lift foil out of baking dish, and slice into 9 bars. For easier slicing, try freezing the brownies for 30-60 minutes. ( I turned them out on a serving platter - BIG mistake! They got stuck to the plate - not stuck stuck, but you get the picture. I recommend you cut them in the pan then remove each beauty separately - you may notice the from the pictures that they are a somewhat disfigured, well this is the reason)
Yield: 9 brownies