Recipe: Cheesecake Brownies

You know what’s awesome? Brownies. Also awesome? Cheesecake. Combine the two and, blammo!, awesome dessert.

I was charged with bringing something sweet and yummy to my family’s Father’s Day get together so I cracked open David Lebovitz’s Ready for Dessert (that I bought on Day 5 of our Portland honeymoon at Powell’s, the infamous bookstore). I told John he could pick between these brownies or a few other things and he picked these!

David Lebovitz’s Cheesecake Brownies
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup  sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (could be optional, I didn’t use them)

Cheesecake Topping
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
5 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk (could be optional, I didn’t use it)

Additional tablespoons of water may be needed, this wasn’t part of the recipe but I found I needed it.

You can find this recipe on David Lebovitz’s blog as well.

To begin, I got to melting my chocolate and butter together in a saucepan over low heat.

While that was melting, I combined my sugar, cocoa powder, flour, and salt in a bowl.

I then slowly stirred in the melted chocolate/butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Next I added my two eggs and stirred in. This batter was thick though; I also stirred in a tablespoon or two of water.

Try not to overmix your batter, it will just tighten up on you and this is already thick enough as is. When your ingredients are combined, pour the batter into an 8 or 9 inch cake pan lined with parchment paper. Let it hang out for a minute while you make your cheesecake topping.

The cheesecake topping is easy! Beat together your cream cheese (I used half full fat, half reduced fat), sugar, and vanilla with a hand mixer. Voila, instant creamy goodness! If it’s too thick you can also add a tablespoon or so of water here too, I did.

When it’s done set up a little work station of your cheesecake topping, brownies, spoon, and butter knife.

Plop a few lines of the cheesecake topping across your brownies. Don’t spread it out or anything, just let it sit on the top. When you’ve got all your cheesecake topping on there use a butter knife to make a few lines going in the opposite direction to create a little design. Mine looked awful, I blame the thick batter – oh well.

Bake your cheesecake brownies at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. I rotated mine with 10 minutes left to go. (Like this retro timer? I just bought it at Anthropologie!)

You’re looking for the edges and top to be done but the inside to be somewhat cakey and gooey. I de-panned my brownies, left them on the counter to cool for 20 minutes, popped them in the fridge for 10 minutes, and then cut them.

These brownies were decadent and delicious. Chocolately, cheesecakey, and super rich. The edges and bottom were perfectly crisp but the inside was gooey and chewy. The batter was so thick and unwieldy that if I make them again, I may try to thin it out a little with milk or something.