Max and Trystan Sandvoss use goat cheese in their brownie recipe

A recipe using artisanal goat cheese from Upstate New York.

Photograph by Harvard Magazine/JC

Photograph by Harvard Magazine/JC

Goat cheese in a brownie? It may sound like a strange combination, but our editors put this recipe to the test and found the contrast of the chocolate sweetness and goat cheese tartness, along with the smooth cheese texture against the cakeiness, to be excellent. Thanks to Max and Trystan Sandvoss—profiled in our September-October 2013 issue—we will be making these again and again. 

Brownie Batter:
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour, sifted

Chèvre Batter:
8 oz First Light Farm original chèvre
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Use a 9 x 13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brownie batter: Melt butter and chocolate in microwave in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, stirring occasionally and keeping a close eye on the mixture until melted. Stir until completely smooth. Beat in, using an electric beater, the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Add flour and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Spread half the mixture in the baking pan.

Chèvre batter:  Beat all ingredients with electric mixer until smooth. Drop dollops of batter on top of the brownie batter, and swirl them in with knife. Add the second half of brownie batter and smooth it over chèvre mixture with a knife or spatula.

Bake until edges are slightly puffed and the center is just set, about 30 - 35 minutes. Cool.

Related topics

You might also like

A theatrical reenactment explores a 1976 clash between science and democracy.

Readers Respond to Our Adaptations Survey

We asked people to share their favorite art adaptations. Here’s what they said.

Author and Harvard Divinity School writer-in-residence Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the world around us.

Most popular

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.

The Loneliness Pandemic

As the country isolates, are we all alone?

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

Explore More From Current Issue

A woman with long hair stands confidently with crossed arms next to a pickup truck.

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

Singer performing on stage with a guitar, wearing a hat, and surrounded by band instruments.

Singer Elisa Smith’s whiskey-soaked voice and subversive feminism is part of the genre’s urban shift.

Katie O’Dair in academic regalia holds a ceremonial staff outdoors at a graduation ceremony.

How Katie O’Dair makes kings, comedians, and parents feel welcome on campus.