Cubicle kitchen: Cheese Fudge Brownies

I know that the 'rules' of good grocery shopping dictate that you should go in with a list, and come out with only what was on that list.  And I do make lists to make sure that I don't get home and realize that I've forgotten the eggs or anything, but part of the fun for me is exploring the aisles and seeing what they have.  You never know what you're going to find: multigrain and pretzel croissants in the bakery, bubble gum sparkling water in the soda aisle, and chocolate cheese fudge in the deli section.  All of these are real items that I have discovered and purchased from the grocery store.  And not even from a fancy one like Whole Foods, just the regular old HEB.

But so far the chocolate cheese fudge is the only one of those to make it into my baking.  It was on clearance, and it was just too intriguing not to try.  I sliced off a little to try as-is; it was like a creamy fudge you might get from a fudge shop, but not nearly as sweet.  Tasty enough, but I couldn't imagine finishing the entire block myself, so I decided to bake it into something.  Exactly what I wasn't sure, because I wasn't sure what the texture of a melted cheese fudge would be like.  Which is why I ended up settling on brownies, because it wouldn't really matter if the pieces of fudge completely melted away or stayed as chocolate chip-like chunks.

The result was somewhere in between, making these extra-moist and creaming brownies.  Using a chocolate extract I found in a local spice shop also added to the chocolate factor, especially aromatically.  So even though they look like one of my more straight-forward treats, there's always something different going on.

Do you ever just grab something from the shelves because you wonder what it's like?  Any success or horror stories?

Cheese Fudge Brownies
Adapted from Ghiradelli's Award Winning Brownies (from the back of a can of cocoa)
Makes 1 pan

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup sweetened cocoa mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon chocolate extract (can substitute with vanilla)
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 block Kelly's Kitchen Chocolate Cheese Fudge, chopped into chunks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix together butter with sugar and cocoa.  Add eggs and extract, stir to combine.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix in the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Fold chunks of cheese fudge into the batter.
5. Spread batter into a prepared 8" or 9" pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.
6. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.