Brownies, Or Chocolate Butter?!

After seeing a recent you-know-who brownie "Throwdown" that took place in the neighboring state to our west (VT), two things occurred to me yesterday afternoon:

...1. I hadn't baked brownies in a million years and 2. I had two wedges of firm, aged goat cheese from in my fridge that I picked up from the farmers' market last weekend. So, yes indeedy, I made my very first batch of goat cheese-swirled brownies, and shared them with two friends--both of whom grunted with their first mouthful. :~)

And, yes, cocoa content matters. High % cocoa solids = intense flavor and superb melting.

oven: 375 for first 20 minutes, then 350 for ~25 minutes more

8x8 pan, lined with buttered foil (recycled-content foil that I reuse) (2 long pieces laid perpendicular in the pan)

From the fridge:
eggs, 4 ex lg
butter, unslt, 2 sticks
goat cheese, ~4oz
cream cheese, ~2 or 3oz (eliminate completely if you have enough goat cheese to make 6oz)

From the pantry:
59% cocoa content chocolate, ~6 oz
72% cocoa content chocolate, ~3oz
sugar, 1-3/4c
flour, 1-1/2c
cocoa powder, heaping 1/2c
baking powder, 1/2tsp
vanilla extract, 1tsp

I melted all of the chocolate and butter together in a double-boiler set-up (bowl over small pot of simmering water). Stirred once or twice, took off heat when barely smooth.

Meantime, beat 3 of the 4 eggs in my stand mixer, to which I slowly added the sugar. Added the vanilla once a thick emulsion of the eggs and sugar took place in the bowl. Beat for another minute.

Added the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture in a steady stream until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, sifted the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together, then lowly added this to the egg mixture on a very low speed. Mixed until signs of flour disappeared.

In yet a third bowl, softened the goat cheese and cream cheese for 30 sec., more or less, in microwave, until it could be blended by fork. Mixed in the remaining egg. I didn't do this, but you could save some of the sugar for adding to this cheese mix in lieu of adding all the sugar to the eggs as suggested above. The "Throwdown" challengees added sugar to theirs accordingly, I just didn't feel like it. I wanted more of a tart-like goat cheese flavor in my swirl.

Poured the chocolate-egg concoction into the prepared pan. Spooned the goat cheese mix on top - stayed away from the edges of the pan. Used a small skewer to swirl the goat cheese mix into the chocolate mix. Added additional shaved chocolate to the surface.

Baked until skewer came out mostly clean, and cooled a little before cutting, maybe 1/2 hour. We enjoyed a slightly cake-like texture at first, but refrigeration set this stuff up like butter (as I found out this morning. All the better!).