Last night, in preparation for Halloween, we finally got around to carving up our pumpkins. We typically like to wait until the day before so our creations can be as fresh as possible for the big night.
Now, as if carving two large pumpkins wasn’t enough to do in a night, I decided I wanted to try out a new recipe as well. I guess I thought that it could be something fun to do with Liam while Stephen was busy carving. Yeah, remind me not to do that again.
Liam is typically a big help in the kitchen. He has helped me make cookies, pumpkin pie and other desserts. However, those are all recipes I’ve made before. I don’t even need a recipe in front of me most of the time, so it’s easy to let Liam have fun stirring all the ingredients together. While these brownies are delicious, I think I’m going to have to have another go at it before I allow a toddler to “help” me. I should have just left Liam to assist his dad with the pumpkin carving.
I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween this year!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies
Adapted from The Chew
Ingredients
- 1 stick Unsalted Butter
- 8 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate
- 1 3/4 cup Flour
- 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 tbs Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Mini Chocolate Chips
- 1/2 cup Pumpkin
- 4 oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.
- Melt butter and chocolate over a double boiler and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a larger bowl. whisk together the eggs, sugars and vanilla.
- Dump the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the melted chocolate and butter. Gently fold in the mini chocolate chips.
- In another bowl, whip the pumpkin, cream cheese and spices together.
- Pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking dish and use a spatula to create an even layer in the pan.
- Dollop the pumpkin mixture in 4 to 6 places on the brownie. Take a butter knife and carefully swirl the pumpkin mixture throughout the brownie batter. Kitchen Knives have a vital role in getting it right.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out dry. Cool for 15 minutes.