Folks sometimes ask what inspires my recipes. Such a hard question. Anything and everything is my truthful response. I am almost always thinking about food.
This brownie recipe, for instance, was inspired by the following nearly concurrent events:
- Sampling goat’s milk cajeta in a Mexican grocery store in Portland.
- Making cajeta myself.
- The All Chocolate! All Month! celebration at LunaCafe.
- Plan to work cajeta into a brownie recipe for the celebration.
- A Brownie Throw Down on The Food Network, which the Vermont Brownie Company won with their chevre brownie.
I had been procrastinating for weeks testing the cajita brownie idea, but something jelled with that throw down. Immediately after the show, I dashed into the OtherWorldly Kitchen and whipped up my Ultra Chewy Brownies (will post later this month) but with a few twists that would hopefully enable the batter to hold over 2 cups of caramel and chevre-cream cheese mixture, without becoming a gooey mess.
I liked the idea of chevre in the brownie (rather than in the caramel), but I didn’t want it to be too dominant, so I combined it with cream cheese and then added lemon to brighten the flavor.
Instead of making cajita (which takes a full hour and a quart of goat’s milk), I whipped up a creamy caramel, taking the sugar almost to burnt.
Then the only thing left to consider was how to combine the three elements—brownie batter, caramel, and chevre-cream cheese filling. I spread half of the brownie batter into the pan, spooned the caramel in dollops on top and then spooned the chevre mixture into the spaces between the caramel dollops.
After spreading the remaining brownie batter on top of the caramel and chevre, I attempted to cut through it with a spatula to swirl the caramel and chevre mixture underneath. That worked only marginally well, however.
Next time, I will keep the caramel in the middle but spoon the chevre mixture on top of the final layer of brownie batter. Swirling it will be much easier this way and create a pretty contrast on top of the brownies. The caramel doesn’t need to be swirled; it seems to go all over the place on its own.
So there you have it: a wonderful new recipe unfolding out of the everyday occurrences of an ordinary life. As with all artistic endeavors, simply pay attention, connect the dots, and jump into action when inspiration strikes. Something delicious always comes of it.
JUMP TO RECIPE
More LunaCafe blondie and brownie recipes
- Oh You Great Big Beautiful Blondie
- Chewy Gooey Congo Bars (Blondies on Steroids)
- LunaCafe OtherWorldly Silky Fudgy Brownies
The caramel was wonderful. However, the combination was far too rich for my tastes and I love sweets.
Thanks for the feedback. They are definitely rich, no doubt about that.
Most amazing dessert! Definately worth the effort!!
I loved the idea of the brownies, but I was concerned about the lemon, so I made them without the lemon and used my favorite brownie recipe instead of yours (I didn’t have any dark corn syrup, and I didn’t want to go to the store, so I just made the ones I had ingredients for), and they were amazing. I am not sure I made the caramel correctly because mine was much thinner than yours, but it spread easily and was evenly disperssed throughout the brownies. They are amazing. Moist, delicious, beautiful and seriously out of this world. Thank you for putting together so many of my favorite flavors. I can’t wait to loook through the rest of your recipes. I like the way you cook!
How nice it would be to have a video of you making this. I was unable to resist the recipe – but to my sorrow the brownie mizture was too thick to work with (maybe the butter was still too cold), and the caramel too hard to use (maybe the temp was too high). So whenever you want to start Luna TV I’ll be ready for you 😉
Ohhh what a shame! It really would be good to video any recipe where a fundamental technique is used. I have actually already completed a couple of attempts on a caramel video, but MauiJim deemed the results unsatisfactory from a technical standpoint and then used that as an excuse to buy a very cool video camera. 🙂 So yes, you will soon be seeing videos on LunaCafe, and I will make caramel a high priority. Thanks for sharing your experience, much appreciated.
Waw!!! these special brownies look to die for,…really!
Drool,…drool,…MMMMMMMMMMM!
I have been looking for a recipe like this since watching the Throwdown episode the other night. Yours looks very complicated, but I am going to try it! Love that you came up with this!
Thanks Becky! The recipe has a number of components, but none of them are actually difficult. The brownies are great with only one of the fillings, either the caramel or the chevre cream cheese.
Thanks Kevin! 🙂
Thank you, Sue! 🙂 The chevre really takes the brownie to a another level. Not for kids or purists probably, but I love the combination.
This recipe sounds absolutely fantastic.
Just an FYI, though, the word you’re looking for is ‘cajeta’.
LOL! thanks! No writer should ever rely on themselves for the editing pass. 🙂
The gooey-ness oozing out of those brownies is amazing!
How do I download your recipes?
Thanks
There is a Print button at the bottom of the page. Hope that helps. Best…Susan
Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing a brownie that’s ‘not like all the others.’
.-= Gale Reeves´s last blog ..granola with nibs =-.
Gale, thank you! 🙂
Wow – what a luscious brownie. The caramel oozing out looks fabulous – the whole brownie looks decadent and irresistible. Love the thinking behind it 🙂
.-= Lucy´s last blog ..Ode to Delia – Squidgy Chocolate Log =-.
These look amazing! Your creativity leaves me in the dust ~ I would never be able to come up with a recipe this rich and decadent. I’m looking forward to the rest of February!
You are very kind, thank you, Dani! 🙂