This is my second attempt at making cheesecake brownies. The first batch that I baked last summer didn’t turn out so well but this batch turned out perfectly. The chocolate layer is fudgy rather than bread-like — just the way I like my brownies.
If you prefer bread-like rather than fudgy brownies, you can always use your favorite brownie recipe. If you prefer a heavier fudgy texture, there’s my chocolate fudge brownies recipe. Just add the cream cheese topping and combine and you’ll still come up with chocolate and cream cheese marbled perfection. If you want to check out other versions of this sinful delectation, see the recipes by David Lebovitz and My Kitchen Snippets.
Makes about 18 pieces of 2-1/2 square brownies.
Ingredients:
For the brownies:
6 oz. of unsweetened chocolate
4 tbps. of butter, softened
1/3 c. of flour
1/4 tsp. of baking powder
1/8 tsp. of salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/3 c. of sugar
1-1/2 tsp. of instant coffee granules (I used Nescafe Gold)
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
For the cheese topping:
1 block (225 to 250 g.) of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 c. of sugar
The brownie recipe is the same one for white chocolate chip cookies so I’m reproducing here the exact same procedure up until the part when the batter is completely mixed.
Chop the unsweetened chocolate, place in a bowl with the butter, then place the bowl over simmering water.
Allow the chocolate and butter to melt, stirring after a minute.
Make sure that there are no lumps before you remove the bowl from the water. Cool the chocolate mixture while you do the other steps.
Preheat the oven to 350oF.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, crack the eggs and add the sugar.
Add the instant coffee granules too. Pour in the vanilla extract.
Beat everything together for 10 minutes over high speed. The lengthy mixing is to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible. With a stand mixer, 11 to 13 minutes is no problem but with a hand mixer, well, I had to make some adjustments.
By the end of 10 minutes, the mixture will be quite thick.
Pour in the melted chocolate and butter, scraping the bowl to make sure you get all the chocolatey goodness in.
Stir a few times by hand…
… then let the mixer do the rest of the work. Two minutes over high speed and the mixture should look like what you see in the photo above.
Add the flour mixture.
Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture — carefully so as not to break the precious air bubbles — until smooth.
Line a 9″x6″ cake pan with baking (wax) paper. Leave overhangs on the long sides so that you can lift the uncut baked brownies later.
Prepare the topping by beating the softened cream cheese and sugar until light and smooth. Add the egg and continue beating until well incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
Drop the cream cheese mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls on top of the brownie batter. With a thin blunt knife or a narrow rubber spatula (I used the latter), make the marble patterns by cutting across the mixture. To be more illustrative, imagine that the knife or spatula is your car and the length of the baking pan is the road. Plow through the brownie mix by running the knife or spatula along the length of the batter. When you’re half an inch from the opposite end, make a U-Turn about two inches to your left (or right, depending on which side of the pan you started), and run the knife or spatula again to the other end. Make a U-Turn once more, go the opposite direction again, and so on, and so forth, until you have plowed through the entire length and breadth of the batter.
Bake the cheesecake brownies for 45 minutes in a preheated 350oF oven.
That”?s how it should look when it comes out. Cool in the pan for a few hours. Better still, chill in the fridge after it has cooled to room temperature. If you attempt to lift it out while warm, the thing might crack in places.
When it has cooled, lift out of the pan by holding the wax paper.
Cut into squares, rinsing and wiping the knife after each cut in case some of the chocolate goodness sticks.
You can serve them at this point, with coffee or tea. I placed them in paper cups because my younger daughter was bringing them to school for a potluck lunch as part of the school’s foundation anniversary celebration.
The brownies keep well for several days inside a tightly covered container in the freezer.
Yummy! looks like you got your assistant in the kitchen while baking this….really love your step by step process pictures. it really helps a lot in following your recipes…
hehehe…if anyone commented that they did not get it right…i don’t what to call them anymore!
Keep it up Ms. Connie!
Actually, I took ALL the photos, some of them from a previous recipe. Sam was in the dorm when I baked the brownies. hehehe
i mean i don’t know what to call them anymore….sorry for the typo!
These brownies look like they’re the best tasting as well as the best looking fudgy brownies…I really have to bake this one!!! Thanks again, Connie!
Bilib ako sa self-control niyo ni Alex – for not eating everything para madala sa school.
Midnight ako nag-bake para wala nang makakakain. Pero pwede tikim hahahahaha
at last magagamit ko na rin un cream chesse hehe. thanks for the recipe ms. connie:)) (matulog na sana 1 yr old baby ko ng makapagbake na:))
Hahaha ganyan din ako. When everyone’s asleep and everything’s quiet, it’s the best time to bake.
at last nabake na rin! ang sarap ayun dessert ni hubby after breakfast. magkaiba nga lang ng design
)
Hi Connie!
This recipe looks really sinful, can’t wait to try it. Would it be all right to use brown sugar instead of white for the brownies?
Brown sugar contains more moisture and is more bland. Those will affect both taste and texture.
Hi Ms Connie,
May I ask if I could use Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa instead of the unsweetened chocolate bars please? If so, how much should I use? I have some left over, and not sure where I can use it for… Thanks.
There’s a conversion formula (don’t know the exact amounts) that if you substitute choco bars with cocoa powder, you have to add butter.
I read your entry on your first attempt at these brownies… Is this recipe different from the first one?
See the photos of the cheesecake brownies from the first attempt.
Hi ms. connie,
i tried this recipe with my 6 yrs old daughter. the procedure was very easily to follow…the finished products was very yummy, my kid and my hubby loved it a lot. thank you so much!
Ask ko lang po if I can use 8×8 baking pan? I don’t have time to go out and buy a 9×6. Thank you
You’re always free to make substitutions but I can’t guarantee that everything will turn out the same.
Ms. Connie,
Another success!! Tried doing this and my family was not able wait… they ate it 5 mins after taking out from the oven.
Thanks for your wonderful recipes, you gave me a reason to try baking again, your recipes are so easy to follow.
Oh my goodness, I hope their mouths didn’t get scorched.
is the cheesecake topping supposed to be runny? mine was and i could not marble it properly
No, the cream cheese mixture shouldn’t be not runny.
“mine was and i could not marble it properly”
Most times, it’s a matter of practice.