Vegan, Gluten-Free Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies - Jan. 11, 2012

For this week's baking night, we continued on our venture to make yummy baked goods for our friend who has gone gluten-free for the month. We started with the Gluten-Free Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies recipe found on Serious Eats website. While the recipe was Gluten-Free, we had veganize it.

Once again Lila brought over a variety of gluten-free flours, and we worked with ingredients in the house.

Lila mixed the dry goods, and I worked on blending the non-dairy butter with the sugar. The brownie recipe called for four eggs in the base. We opted to replace this with two flax seed eggs, and two Ener-G egg replacer eggs. When the brownie base was done, the batter was a lighter color and thicker than I expected it to be. It held together very well, however.

Nice thick brownie batter.

Getting the batter to spread was the hardest part.

 

For the topping we used Toffuti Better than Cream Cheese, and replaced the egg with two tablespoons of soy yogurt.

Cheesecake topping on the brownie batter.

The raspberry jam we used had been refrigerated, and it made it hard to spread the dollops in with the cheesecake topping. We ended up using our (thoroughly cleaned) fingers when utensils failed us.

Giving the dessert a raspberry. Or raspberry jam, at least.

We finger-painted to get the swirls, since the jam was cold.

 The recipe called for the brownies to baked "until cheesecake toping is golden brown and brownie base is set." Referencing a series of other brownie recipes, we determined to start with 30 minutes, then add time from there.

The first time we checked on the brownies, the entire pan contents wiggled. We added another 10 minutes. Still too liquidy. Another 5 minutes looked better, but the brownie base in the middle was still damp. An additional 5 minutes, which put our baking time at 50 minutes total. 

The brownies were too soft to eat, and the evening was well over for a work night. I let the pan cool, then covered it in foil, and put it in the fridge, delaying our taste-test until this morning.

Out of the oven.

These brownies are delicious. The brownie edges are a little chewy, but not in a bad way. The base is fudgy, not cake-like. This means the brownies are flatter than I expected. Now, I am more of a cake-like brownie girl, so I found the texture a little different. Lila, on the other hand, is a fudgy brownie girl, and the texture I noticed as being different / possibly a problem was one of the things she liked about these brownies.

I am including the adapted recipe below:

Vegan, Gluten-Free Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

These brownies bake up dense, extra-fudgy and moist due to the cheesecake and jam topping.



Brownie Base:
1 cup white rice flour
½ cup sweet rice flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
8 oz. (2 sticks) non-dairy butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 TBSP milled flax seeds (2 eggs worth)
1 TBSP Ener-G Egg replacer (2 eggs worth)
10 TBSP warm water, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cheesecake Topping:
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP plain soy yogurt
8 oz non-dairy cream cheese, softened

Raspberry Swirl:
⅓ cup raspberry jam, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 9X13 inch pain.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the white rice flour, sweet rice flour, cocoa powder, salt and xanthan gum.
3. In a small bowl, mix whisk together the flax seeds, and 6 TBSP of warm water.
4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the Ener-G egg replacer and 4 TBSP of warm water.
5. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and granulated sugar.
6. Mix in half the flax-seed mixture.
7. Mix in the egg replacer mixture, stopping mixer and scrapping down sides as necessary.
8. Add vanilla extract, mix until combined.
9. Add whisked ingredients a little at a time, blending between additions. Once all dry ingredients are added, blend until a thick batter forms.
10. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

11. For the cheesecake topping: In a small bowl, cream together non-dairy cream cheese and sugar until thick.
12. Add soy yogurt. Mix until smooth.
13. Pour topping evenly over brownie batter.
14. Dot raspberry jam evenly over pan. Using a knife or clean fingers, gently swirl raspberry jam through cheesecake topping.
15. Bake until cheesecake topping is golden brown, and brownie base is set (this varies by oven - it took us 50 minutes).  A knife inserted in the center of the pan should come out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it.
16. Allow brownies to cool before cutting into squares.

New tools/ ingredients:  none
Recipes used:  "Gluten-Free Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies" from Serious Eats - adapted
Co-bakers:  Lila
Date: January 10, 2012