Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies (lower-sugar, grain-free, gluten-free)

We had purchased some lower-sugar dark chocolate from Raaka, and ended up on their mailing list. They send delicious sounding recipes, and this one caught my eye. Luckily I caught that they forgot to include the amount of almond flour in the recipe, so I have added it below. There is no almond flour in the pumpkin component, and it will look rather liquidy in texture before baking, but it all works out well.

I found the end result before chilling to look rather greasy, but the chilling step really solves everything overall. I'm not convinced the recipe really needs 8 oz fat (especially the butter, which I replaced for the coconut oil) but haven't tested it to know for sure otherwise.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
(recipe from Sixteen Mill via an email from Raaka Chocolate)

Ingredients
Pumpkin Cheesecake Layer
226g/8oz room temperature cream cheese (to make this dairy-free, use any plant-based cream cheese)
226g/8oz pumpkin puree
65g/2oz coconut sugar
1 ½ tbsp pumpkin spice
2 large room temperature eggs

Chocolate Layer
226g/8oz Baking Chocolate*
226g/8oz coconut oil*
65g/2oz coconut sugar
4 large eggs
130 g almond flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
A pinch of salt

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit and line a rectangular baking pan of any size with parchment paper. We recommend a 9x13” baking pan, but sizes close to that will do.

2. For the cheesecake layer: combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix with a whisk until smooth, or use a mixer if you have one.

3. For the chocolate batter layer: melt the chocolate and the coconut oil slowly in a heatproof bowl. Be careful to not overheat it. Stir and repeat until melted and fully combined. Add the coconut sugar and mix it well, then add the eggs. Whisk until combined. Once you've mixed those well, add the dry ingredients: almond flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Fold them into the chocolate using a rubber spatula.

4. Spread ¾ of the batter on the bottom of the prepared pan.

5. Spread all of the pumpkin cheesecake batter on top of the chocolate batter. Make sure the layers are even.

6. Dollop the rest of the chocolate batter on top of the cheesecake batter and swirl it in with a skewer or a small knife. 7. Pop the pan in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the cheesecake batter sets.

8. Once the brownies are baked, cool the pan at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then cover the pan with cling film and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.

9. After 6 hours, these are ready to cut and serve! These will keep in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. Enjoy! 

Notes from JennyBakes:

I used random dark chocolate I needed to use up, including the Raaka Maple Dark Baking Chocolate, which I'm enjoying for baking quite a bit. The discs are very thin, meaning they melt very quickly. I also had a bar of 85% dark that was too dark for our tastes to just eat.

I used butter in place of coconut and it worked out once chilled.

130 g almond flour is about 1 American cup plus 2 tbsp or so.  

I didn't do swirls very well but it still tastes good in the end!