Heavenly Cheesecake Brownies

On Saturday, Brian and I were invited to a friend's house for dinner. When I asked her a few days prior what she'd like us to bring she said she'd appreciate dessert, maybe brownies or cheesecake which are her two favorites. And so I thought to myself that I would bring cheesecake brownies and thus combine the best of both. I've never made them myself and I wasn't particularly in the mood to bake so I intended to buy them from a bakery. There's one near us that usually has delicious cheesecake brownies but this time they did not. I headed to another nearby bakery that had them but theirs looked stale and dry. Sigh. I guess I'm baking cheesecake brownies.

I didn't have a recipe but I knew I'd pinned and bookmarked at least a dozen. So, how different could each recipe be for the same thing? Surprisingly, quite different. Most agreed on the ingredients (with a few exceptions) but none agreed on proportions. Sigh. So I took a risk and did a mix and match of recipes based on what seemed logical to me. I figured whatever came out couldn't taste that bad and, worst case scenario, I'd just bring a tub of ice cream to put on top of them.

Well, what came out was absolutely delicious.  Light, tender, perfectly sweet without being cloying and much tastier than the ones I'd had from the bakery, as a matter of fact. Aesthetically though, they probably need some tweaking. The cheesecake layer was a tad too large in proportion to the chocolate layer although I should add that I personally liked it that way. But it sank a bit in the middle so that I got an even chocolate and cheesecake ratio at the sides but more cheesecake than chocolate in the middle.

Brian, who might be the only person who likes chocolate more than I do, also felt that the chocolate flavor could be deeper. Again, I rather liked it this way but I would acquiesce next time and add a bit of cocoa powder to kick up the chocolate flavor a little. In the end, while these may not be the most perfect looking cheesecake brownies, I would make them again in a heartbeat. In fact...since they're all gone... :) Enjoy!







Ingredients

Chocolate Brownie Layer:
4 oz. Semisweet chocolate *
1 Stick unsalted butter
2 Eggs
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/8 Teaspoon salt

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler or microwave oven and allow to cool. Beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth, add in the cooled chocolate/butter mixture and continue to beat until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until all the flour is incorporated.

Cheesecake Layer:
16 oz. Cream cheese
1 Egg
1/2 Cup sugar
2 Teaspoons vanilla

Blend all the cheesecake ingredients together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer or food processor.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper and pour in the chocolate mixture. Pour the cheesecake mixture on top and, using a butter knife, swirl so that some of the chocolate mixes with the cheesecake batter. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Allow to cool before removing from the pan and slicing. Makes approximately 12 brownies.


* Next time I make this recipe I will add a tablespoon of cocoa powder.