Blueberry-Cream Cheese Brownies

I suppose you can classify me as a bona fide choco-holic. I adore chocolate. I am the quintessential mom who has a secret stash of good chocolate hidden in the kitchen, usually chilled in the refrigerator. I take a little square in the afternoon to get my fix, and on a bad day, I take a couple more squares!!

Now the other day I was rummaging through the refrigerator when I saw a handful of uneaten blueberries next to my beloved chocolate. Immediately, I explained to myself that my afternoon snack would be rich in antioxidants. But before I could indulge, my littlest one found me and I couldn't go through with it! I certainly didn't have enough to share with my brood. So I quickly came up with the idea of baking brownies. I had seen many brownie recipes with cream cheese swirled in so again, I got creative. Why not blueberries, too?

I quickly did my research online for different brownie recipes and came up with the following recipe for blueberry-cream cheese brownies. I always reduce the sugar load by a little and since there wasn't much flour required, I used only whole-wheat flour. More nutritious, I convinced myself!

For the cream cheese spread, I sweetened it slightly with 2 TBS of sugar, and mixed an egg and some vanilla extract. I simmered my straggler blueberries, about 1/2 cup, with 2 TBS sugar and 1 TBS water until I got a little syrup. I didn't want my brownies to get soggy.

My kids hovered over me as I prepared the brownies. I felt like the mad scientist creating my beloved creature. I slapped curious fingers away as they reached for the chocolate batter. I had used a 9" x 9" pan and barely had enough batter to fill it, so every scrape was used. Darn! Couldn't lick the bowl!

As the brownies baked in the oven, the smell drove us all crazy. And when I removed it from the oven, an hour later, it took every ounce of will-power not to sneak a bite - what is better than warm gooey brownies??

But again, my kids were watching me. "Must behave in front of the short ones," I told myself. I matter-of-factly told my children that we would have to wait until the brownies cooled off, magically after dinner. It took about two hours for it to reach room temperature. Since my in-laws were coming for dinner, I knew I had to politely share these brownies with them. Luckily, my hubby is not a chocolate person! YES! More for me!

Um, excuse me.

As I carefully removed the foil-laden brownies from the pan, I gave a little prayer that they were not soggy. My experiment was a hit! The kiddos, who usually cringe when I add extras to an otherwise plain but delicious dish, gobbled these brownies up. My middle one, who loves blueberries naked and uncooked, didn't notice the sweet goodness inside his brownies and liked the cream cheese filling. I served everyone dessert and had a quiet moment to myself in the corner of the kitchen with my beloved creation.

And for my readers and other fellow choco-holics, I give my gift to you! Enjoy and double the recipe so you have enough to share!

Find this recipe and more at Family Spice!