Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies (Gluten and Refined Sugar Free)

There are only a few days of November left, so I thought I better make use of any of the pumpkin that I have left over from Thanksgiving... You know, before we venture into the season where pumpkin desserts are no longer appropriate. These brownies, however are always appropriate. You can easily leave out the pumpkin and make cheesecake brownies or leave out the swirl altogether and just make some good old chocolate chunkers. Of course, these are not your run-of-the-mill brownies. These babies are wholesome, gluten free, refined sugar free, no butter, no nonsense. Just dark, dense chocolate goodness paired with a creamy, sweet-spicy pumpkin cheesecake swirl. That last sentence probably has you thinking... uh, I thought you said these were "wholesome". Dark, dense, creamy, sweet-spicy and cheesecake sounds anything but wholesome. Well, bake on my skeptical friends! Be amazed.

 Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
Adapted from Bakerita

Ingredients:

6 oz. dark chocolate
½ cup coconut oil
⅔ cup coconut sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup oat flour
1 tablespoon cacao powder

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl
4 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup coconut sugar
⅓ cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tsp cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside. Melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a glass bowl for 30 seconds at a time, until melted smooth. Stir in the sugar and vanilla, then stir in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the oat flour and cacao powder, until just combined. Don't overmix!

In a standing mixer, whisk together the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Whisk in the cornstarch. Add in the coconut sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour half of the brownie batter into your prepared pan. Then spoon half of the pumpkin cheesecake batter over the top. Cover with remaining brownie batter and then drizzle the rest of the pumpkin cheesecake mixture over the top randomly. Run a knife through the batter to create a swirl. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Lift the brownies out of the pan by the parchment paper and let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Try them with a little almond butter on top, you won't be sorry!