Browned Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting

I tried this frosting for a ward luau this evening, and I fell in love. It is so yummy. I'm not a fan of super-sweet frostings, but the butter and cream cheese in this give it a savory taste to contrast and compliment the sweet. It's kind of an odd recipe, in that it uses a thick bechamel sauce as the base, but after trying it, I'm hooked. Here's my take (with a few changes from the original.)

Browned Butter-Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter
6 Tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
1/2 c. cream cheese
1 c. coconut sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Over medium heat, melt the butter. When it has melted completely, continue to cook over medium heat until it is nicely browned. (It's easy to burn, so stick close.)  Stir flour into butter and mix well. After the roux has cooked a minute or so, slowly add the milk. Stirring constantly, cook until it becomes very thick and pasty. Remove from heat, transfer the paste to a mixing bowl, and stick it in the fridge. It needs to cool completely before you move on to the next step. When you are ready and the paste is cooled, mix together the cream cheese, coconut sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy. Using the whisk attachment to your mixer, add the cream cheese/sugar mixture to your milk paste mixture. At first it will look a bit gloppy and weird, but keep beating and it will come together. Once it is smooth, it's ready. Delicious frosting for cupcakes, cookies, carrot cake, whatever. Makes enough frosting to frost 24 cupcakes.

Thanks so much to www.heatherlikesfood.com for this recipe.