Recipe for Cheesecake Brownies Or Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

These cream cheese swirl brownies, also called cheesecake brownies are stunning to look at and just brilliant tasting, sure to wow anyone who takes a bite!

With brownies being a well represented delegation in the somewhat meagre dessert section of this blog, you might realise that they are my favourite things to bake for family and friends. Not as much for myself, because, well, they are decadent. They make you lose any dietary resolve you may have. There’s no Pause button here. One brownie leads to another, and soon you are totally overcome by the guilt of consuming as many calories as a small country

There’s one thing I usually consider before sinking my teeth into something totally sinful

“Is it going to be worth it?”

This brownie ticks all the boxes as far as culinary debauchery goes

Butter, yes

Sugar, yes

And to top all of it, cream cheese!

I don’t bring to you a healthy or low cal brownie here, but you bite into one small piece, and I can promise you it is going to be worth it. You bake this for your family or friends this festive season, and they will remember this for a long long time. It is THAT good

And yes, the marbled effect makes it quite a stunning piece of dessert

Cheesecake Brownies out of the oven

Here’s the recipe for these Oh My God, Cheesecake Brownies, partly adapted from Bon Appetit website

Sorry, shady phone pic, it tastes WAYY better that it looks 🙂 Going to try and replace this with a worthy pic soon

Recipe for Cheesecake Brownies or ****Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Makes 16 2-inch squares or 32 smaller bite sized pieces

Preparation time – around 20 minutes

Baking time – around 45 minutes

Cooling time – 3-4 hours

Recipe for Cheesecake Brownies Or Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

These cream cheese swirl brownies, also called cheesecake brownies are stunning to look at and just brilliant tasting, sure to wow anyone who takes a bite!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 6 serving

Ingredients

  

For Brownie Batter

• 110 grams unsalted butter , cut into small pieces (use a 100 gram slab + 2 tsp)
• 1 cup sugar (granulated is fine)
• 3/4 cup cocoa unsweetened powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (omit if using ed butter)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour (maida)

For Cream Cheese Layer

• 200 grams cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch salt

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven at 160xb0C.
• Line a 8" square glass or aluminium tin with baking paper or foil and grease with a pinch of butter. Keep aside.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter on low-medium heat.
• In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, salt with a fork, combining them.
• To this add the slightly cooled melted butter in a stream, whisking them well together.
• Add the vanilla and mix well.
• Add the eggs one by one and beat well to combine after each egg.
• Finally add the flour and gently combine into the batter. Do not overmix or beat at this stage.
• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, **reserving around 1/4 cup batter for the swirls.
• Using an electric beater or a hand-beater, mix all ingredients for the cheesecake topping well, until these are no lumps and sugar is mixed well. Scrape this onto the brownie layer, smoothen out with the back of a spatula or wet spoon.
• Place small spoonfuls of reserved brownie batter at intervals (leaving some space between each spoonful) on top of the cheesecake layer. If the brownie batter feels a bit thick, use 2-3 tsp of milk or water to loosen up, so it is easier to swirl. Using a skewer or toothpick swirl the brownie layer into the cheesecake layer by drawing circles on the batter or any other pattern.
• Bake at 160xb0C for around 45 minutes or until the cream cheese looks baked to slightly golden and a toothpick comes out nearly clean with some crumbs.
• At this stage the top layer will feel a little un-set and jiggly. This must be refrigerated for minimum of 3-4 hours (overnight is best), and it will harden up, well enough to cut cleanly. You can remove it from the pan, along with the foil and refrigerate it, after chilling, the foil can be peeled off easily.
• Cut into 16 or 32 pieces. The brownies get fudgier if you store them in an airtight box in the freezer.
• The slight sourness of the cream cheese pairs beautifully with the sweet brownie layer. You can also cut down the cream cheese layer by half, reduce baking time slightly, and it would still work well.

Notes

Note:I used Britannia cream cheese which is fairly easily available in most supermarkets in Indian cities.