The hardest part about holiday baking is deciding what to make. It’s not that I can’t find recipes. It’s that I find too many recipes. I spend far too much time deliberating the virtues of each one when I could be in the kitchen happily baking. When I found this recipe, however, I had no choice but to make them. Irish Cream? Brownies? Are you kidding?
The Irish Cream is incorporated by mixing it with cream cheese. (They just get better and better, don’t they?) This mixture sits beautifully between two chocolate layers. You can swirl the layers together, but I thought I would like the look of the distinct layers better. It reminds me of those famous New York black and white cookies that I’ve never gotten around to making myself.
One thing that bothers me about most brownie recipes is that you put in all the work for an 8- or 9-inch square pan’s worth of brownies. Not this one. Get out that 9″ x 13″. You’ll have plenty to keep and to share for the holidays. I do recommend cutting them small. They are rich enough that a small bite is plenty.
The hardest part about holiday blogging is finding time to get all the things I’m baking onto this little site. I hope to make up for lost time in the next few days. Wish me luck!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur
Instructions
To make the brownies:
Place butter and chocolate into a medium saucepan and melt over low heat, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 13"× 9" baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly coat with a non-stick cooking spray.
Beat sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until lightened and fluffy (approximately 4 minutes). Add flour and salt gradually. Fold in the melted chocolate mixture.
To make the filling:
Combine cream cheese and sugar in another medium bowl. Beat until creamy. Add egg and liqueur and beat until smooth.
To assemble:
Pour half of the brownie batter into the pan. Spread all of the filling over the chocolate layer. Pour the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer and smooth. If desired, swirl the layers together with a knife for a marbled effect.
Bake for 40 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.
http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2006/12/irish-cream-brownies/
December 21st, 2006 at 9:26 pm
This brownie is so fabulously decadent looking – like an expensive truffle. I used to have a perfect cocoa brownie recipe with a crunchy top..cheap to make and delicious. Never have found one I like as well, but will sure try this.
December 21st, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Oh my… one of the restaurants here in town used to have something similar to this called an avalanche. The center was more of a mousse like texture though, but it was heaven on earth. Those look incredible. I can’t wait to give them a try… I know just the occasion!
By the way… I love the layout of your blog. It’s so simple to get around and very informative.
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:59 am
i totally agree with those first few sentences! there are so many great ideas out there.
December 22nd, 2006 at 11:55 am
Marilyn, your brownies sound delicious!
Kristen, thanks for the compliments! I must give credit to my husband Quinn for the look of the site. I just told him what I wanted, and he got it right on the first try!
Connie, I’m still shuffling holiday ideas in my head even now after all the groceries have been bought. I refuse to brave the stores any more until after Chrismtas.
December 22nd, 2006 at 1:27 pm
They look fabulous! So decadent!
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:06 pm
I definitely spend way too much time debating over recipes as well, I’ll spend hours looking at things before I finally decide to make the first thing I saw.
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:25 am
Yummy. I love Irish cream. I was just on the Bailey’s site the other day trying to decide what to make with it….these look like a winner.
December 23rd, 2006 at 10:26 am
Jennifer, I have the same “dilemma” here – I go through a lot of print outs from websites and blogs, books and magazines, and everything looks so good I can never decide what to make!
These brownies are fabulous – Bailey’s?? You’ve got to be kidding me.
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:14 pm
It’s nice to live vicariously through your site this year Jennifer because it’s two days before Christmas and I haven’t even started any holiday baking! But even though I’m in a baking slump, I LOVE to see what you’ve been up to! I’m going to try to do some marathon cookie baking tomorrow. We’ll see!
December 27th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
mmmm… thanks for the recipe jennifer! i tried them out for my holiday cookie assortment and they were a hit!
January 1st, 2007 at 5:19 am
Hi Jennifer, I made these last night! I swirled mine because I quickly realized that my layers were not going to look as nice as yours! They looked really nice after they were swirled though. Everyone loved them!
August 4th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I’m definitely not talented enough to get those perfect layers (I tried but ended up having to swirl because it was a major mess
). They were delicious, though! Thanks for the recipe.
September 14th, 2007 at 10:48 am
I just commented on your more recent Monster Cookies post, but I wanted to say that I also printed off this recipe and I used it earlier this week to take these brownies to a departmental party. Oh my goodness, were they a hit! Everyone loved them and each and every bite got snarfed up. They really were pretty easy, and I even got the layers right! (That really surprised me.)
Thanks again for a tasty, fancy-looking, relatively easy recipe. I’ve got a few more printouts from your archives that I intend to put to good use just as soon as I can find an excuse!
September 14th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Erin, I’m glad they were a success! I wish I had one right now. Good luck with the other recipes.
November 8th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Jennifer, how important is it to line the pans with tinfoil? It sounds like a big pain! I plan on making a double batch of these this weekend. Thanks for the awesome recipe!!
November 8th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Mandy, the aluminum foil makes getting the brownies out of the pan a breeze. I suppose it’s not necessary, but I highly recommend it. It’s really not that hard, though. Basically, I just tear of a piece and press it down into the pan, especially in the corners. If you leave it larger than the pan, it makes little handles for removing the brownies.
If you don’t use it, be sure to coat your pan very well with cooking spray. If you still have a hard time getting them out, turn the pan upside down on a cooling rack or some other surface and let gravity take over.
Good luck! I hope you enjoy them!
April 7th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Tasty….
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
The photo is really well done! The three layers of brownie look like they’re just floating there… waiting to be eaten!
April 1st, 2009 at 3:39 am
Just made these, and they are superb. I couldn’t get my top layer of brownie batter to spread evenly, so I ended up swirling the whole thing… not as pretty, but still tasty.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Absolutely delicious. Made these for staff at work today, St. Paddy’s Day, and everyone loved them. Yummy and not too rich like you would expect just by looking at them. Doubled the recipe and they were gone in no time. Stumbled upon your site and am already looking forward to the next recipe… Thank you for sharing.
November 15th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
These brownies look delicious, and the thought of Irish cream sounds awesome