Cheesecake Brownies
In these shut-in, downright depressing times, visual beauty has never seemed more important. At least, that’s my excuse for whipping up this eye-catching, swirly treat. They’re part brownie, part cheesecake and wholly delicious!!
Guaranteed to lift your spirits!
And fun to make without being too taxing or complex.
You start by whipping up a cream cheese-based cheesecake batter in the food processor.
Next up is the chocolate batter. Then you alternate spoonfuls of each batter in your baking pan—
And marble together using a butter knife.
Now comes the difficult part—waiting for them to bake!
What emerges is a pan of marbled decadence!
Every bite is filled with the magical combo of creamy cheesecake and rich chocolate brownie. Irresistible!
They’re especially good chilled—we’re keeping ‘em way way in the back of the fridge so as not to tempt us too much seeing that we can’t really share right now!
Stay well everyone!!
Cheesecake Brownies
Makes about 2 dozen
Prep Time: 15 minutes; Bake Time: 45-50 minutes
Ingredients
5 large eggs, divided
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (the brick kind)
⅓ cup plus 2 ½ cups sugar, divided
1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
⅔ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
The Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving a couple of inches of overhang on each end. Lightly spray the parchment and set aside.
2. Use a food processor to pulse together 1 of the eggs, cream cheese and ⅓ cup sugar, scraping down the sides as needed until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, salt and remaining 2 ½ cups sugar in a large bowl to combine. Whisking constantly, slowly add in the melted butter and then the vanilla. One at a time, whisk in the 4 remaining eggs, blending well after each addition.
4. Add the flour and mix just to blend—you don’t want to overmix. Spoon dollops of the chocolate batter in the prepared dish. Now spoon dollops of the cream cheese batter in between the chocolate dollops. Run a butter knife through the mixture to swirl—don’t overdo it—you want to see wide ribbons.
5. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the cream cheese mixture is barely golden and a tester inserted into the chocolate part comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached to it. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let brownies cool completely. Use parchment overhang to lift cooled brownies onto a cutting board. Cut into squares and serve as is or chill and serve cold—they’re a little bit fudgier that way.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine. I cooked these about 15 minutes longer than the original recipe indicated.
