Boxed Brownies Are 50% Richer When You Stir In This Cheesy Ingredient

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You'll probably balk when I tell you to add cheese to your brownie batter to make an ultimate fudgy brownie recipe. But stir this one cheese into the mix, whether you're making boxed brownies or baking from scratch, and you'll get a noticeably moister and more tender chocolate treat. And this cheese is none other than ricotta.

When I was testing cookie and dessert recipes for my two baking cookbooks, including my latest publication, "108 Asian Cookies," I mixed all kinds of yogurts and cheeses into batters and doughs to see how they would affect the texture and flavor.

Again and again, creamy dairy additions like Greek yogurt and cream cheese made my bakes moister and richer, and that same dairy-based boost works with this soft and creamy cheese. After all, ricotta is the perfect secret ingredient for ultra-moist boxed cakes. Thus, it makes sense that it works to enhance brownies too. Its soft curds are full of moisture, fat, and protein, which help keep brownies from drying out, both in the oven and in storage. And while ricotta is creamy and rich, it's much milder in flavor than cheeses like feta, cheddar, or Parmesan, so the chocolate notes still shine. The result is a rich, fudgy brownie with a tender, creamy texture, as if a brownie and a cheesecake had a dessert baby.

So how exactly can you use ricotta to make brownies? There are a few ways. The simplest is to stir it straight into the batter along with the wet ingredients, like the eggs and oil. If you're baking from scratch rather than using a boxed mix, try one of our recipes, like our gooey caramel-filled brownies recipe.

Next, for more visual and textural contrast, skip mixing the ricotta into the brownie batter completely. Instead, spread a layer of it in the middle of the batter. Think of it as a brownie lasagna. You can also sweeten the ricotta first, with sugar, condensed milk, or maple syrup, as if you're making filling for cannoli. Like how it will hold its shape in baked lasagna, the layer of ricotta cheese will not melt, but hold its shape in the brownie. 

Lastly, for a marbled look, dollop the ricotta on top of the brownie batter and swirl it through the batter with a butter knife. However you work it in, ricotta cheese will add richness to an ordinary pan of brownies with little effort. And if you have any extra to work with, be sure to check out these 33 rich ricotta cheese recipes.