Wednesday 26 October 2016

Pumpkin Pie Protein Cheesecake Blondies




Confessions of a frantic food blogger:


I have made this recipe 5 times before intentionally making the time to make them for a post.  YEAH THAT'S A LOT.


Every time I was either taking them to a function or we just ate too many and had none left for me to photograph or some other nonsense.


I did, however, release this recipe in my last newsletter so this will be old hat to you if you are a subscriber ;)


These are a PUMPKIN PROTEIN BLONDIE. YES. WITH A CHEESECAKE SWIRL.


YES YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!





The blondie ends up being really moist and delicious and pumpkin-y and the cheesecake layer adds the perfect amount of creaminess. YUM.
I loved making these in cupcake liners because it made them more portable and I just thought they were cute. You can totally make them in an 8 inch square or circle pan, too, though!









Word to the wise if you think you may want to freeze them (they freeze amazing) then I would bake them in paper liners and NOT the foil ones because you can't microwave those and its annoying to have to peel them off. Take it from me ;)





I shared these with friends and family and they were a hit every where I went. They have the perfect balance of creamy and pumpkin spicy that really warms the soul.



Sometimes too warm. As in they just came out of the oven and now I burnt my finger tips trying to box them as I run out the door.








Also even though I promised myself I wouldn't I bought some new Halloween decor. Fml, right? The cake stand was from Marshall's or Homesense...or Winners. Somewhere. I think the same place my mom found the Ouija board decor from my last post.



I got this mason jar skull cup from Dollarama tho. I freaking love Dollarama. I can't even think of going to any of the OTHER GREEN AND YELLOW DOLLAR STORES. You heard me Dollar Tree/Dollar Giant/Dollar other things.






My hair is black as night but for today. I am all about the blonde so let's go!

Pumpkin Pie Protein Cheesecake Blondies

Yields 16 - 18 blondies

Gluten Free & High Protein

Ingredients:

 

 For the Blondies


  • 3/4 cup oat flour
  • 1/4 cup almond flour 
  • 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (I used PVL Sport Whey it's my favourite!) 
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs plus one egg yolk, room temperature (save the egg white for the next step!)
  • 2/3 cup coconut sugar (or granulated sweetener of choice) 
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

 

For the Cheesecake Swirl

  • 8 ounces light cream cheese, softened (1 brick) 
  • 1/4 cup organic cane sugar (or other granulated sweetener like palm sugar, xylitol, stevia, etc) 
  • 1 egg white, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • Pinch of cinnamon (optional) 



Directions:


  1. Preheat oven to 350 
  2. Grease an 8-inch round pan and line with parchment paper
  3. In a small bowl sift all dry ingredients for the batter and set aside
  4. In a large bowl combine all wet ingredients and blend thoroughly
  5. Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and stir until fully combined
  6. Spread the batter evenly into the pan 
  7. For the cheesecake layer mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until smooth and pour on top of blondie layer
  8. Using a butter knife or toothpick swirl and marble the cheesecake and blondie layers together
  9. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean and the cheesecake layer is set on top (slightly soft still but not liquid to the touch) 
  10. Let blondies cool completely before serving
  11. Refrigerated leftovers keep for 2-3 days but ideally frozen after the first day -- they freeze really well and reheating in the microwave is easy peasy -- only 20-30 seconds and they are perfect again!
Baker's Note: You can also make this without the cheesecake layer! They will probably bake in less time so check on them after 20 minutes and go from there!









One version of the blondies I topped with cinnamon chocolate and chocolate pearls. Honestly, I didn't end up liking it as much. To me it was a waste to cover up the beautiful marbling and it kind of serves as a reminder to people of what kind of dessert it is. A few simple little non-pareils and one pumpkin sprinkles was my ultimate choice and I much prefer it!






I feel like I also got the straws and cupcake liners from the dollar store. If not, Michael's will probably have their Halloween things on sale seeing as how they pretty much move on to Christmas in September.






Whether you're baking for your school friends, regular ol friend or families I think these are the perfect treat. You could probably keep one in your pocket for later if you wanted. Although, I don't know how the taste of pocket lint goes with pumpkin.


Just kidding. It makes it better because PUMPKIN CAN DO NO WRONG, AMIRIGHT?!








Get ready for the full Halloweek round-up later this week featuing a cameo from my favourite pumpkin king ;)


Happy Protein Pumpkin'ing!


XO

2 comments:

  1. Omg! What a yummy food. I would like to order those chocolaty brownies. I am on a diet but still don't care. These have created a huge hunger in me. Thanks for sharing.

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