Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

 

Hi everyone! So I'm back in Melbourne after a fab, fab holiday in Germany! Whilst I love being at home, and am seriously enjoying our Melbourne coffees, I am totally struggling with the weather - it's so cold and it gets dark so early! (And it's only June... eep!) Anyway, on a happier note: today's post is about brownies!

A little while ago, April from My Food Trail posted a really delicious-looking picture of some cheesecake brownies on Instagram. When I clicked "like" and commented "Omg want!", she generously offered to give me some! Yay! I swapped her some corn fritters, and she gave me a tub of her delicious brownies.

April's delicious cheesecake brownies

Don't they look great? I think April found them a bit too dark (300 grams of 70% dark chocolate went into them), but I think they tasted perfect! Really rich and fudgy, and super chocolatey! After those brownies were gone, I really, really wanted to bake some for myself. April used a recipe from Taste.com.au (and just quietly, I think they were even better than David Lebovitz' cheesecake brownies). The only way I thought I could improve on them was to double the cheesecake! (Incidentally, if they were ever to make a movie of my life, that could be the title! "The Sarah Cooks Story: Double the Cheesecake", hehehe.)

My full, adapted, recipe is below, but let's have a look at the steps involved! Here's the cheesecake component! In addition to doubling the quantities, I used a vanilla pod for extra luxuriousness.

Cheesecake component

And here's the chocolate part. I love how shiny it is - must be all the butter!

Chocolate component

Dolloping the cheesecake

Cheesecake layer

So as you can see, I went for the two-layered effect, but if you wanted to go for swirly marbling, then just dollop alternate spoonfuls of each mixture into the tin and then swirl with a palette knife!

Layers

These were, as you can imagine, quite rich, so I thought they were best in little squares.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

I took the brownies to my old work on my last day there, and they went down a treat! If you like brownies and cheesecake, you can't go wrong. Enjoy!

Brownies

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
Recipe adapted from Australian Good Taste

Ingredients
For the brownie base
150 grams unsalted butter
300 grams 70% cocoa dark chocolate
2 eggs
175 grams caster sugar
Pinch of salt
1.5 cups plain flour
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
For the cheesecake topping
500 grams cream cheese, softened
140 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 30 x 20cm rectangular cake tin with baking paper.
To make the brownie base
Melt the butter and dark chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly.
Beat the eggs and add the sugar, whisking to combine. Stir the eggs and sugar into the melted chocolate.
Sift the flour and salt, then whisk it in, followed by the yogurt.
To make the cheesecake topping
Beat the cream cheese until softened, then beat in the sugar, followed by the eggs, vanilla extract and the vanilla seeds.
Spread the brownie base into the prepared tin, then dollop over the cream cheese mixture. (Alternatively, for a marbled effect, drop large spoonfuls of each mixture into the baking tin and then swirl with a palette knife).
Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until just set. (A cake tester should come out with damp crumbs clinging to it). Allow to cool before cutting into little squares to serve.
Makes a 20cm squared slab of brownie

 

Hi everyone! So I'm back in Melbourne after a fab, fab holiday in Germany! Whilst I love being at home, and am seriously enjoying our Melbourne coffees, I am totally struggling with the weather - it's so cold and it gets dark so early! (And it's only June... eep!) Anyway, on a happier note: today's post is about brownies!

A little while ago, April from My Food Trail posted a really delicious-looking picture of some cheesecake brownies on Instagram. When I clicked "like" and commented "Omg want!", she generously offered to give me some! Yay! I swapped her some corn fritters, and she gave me a tub of her delicious brownies.

April's delicious cheesecake brownies

Don't they look great? I think April found them a bit too dark (300 grams of 70% dark chocolate went into them), but I think they tasted perfect! Really rich and fudgy, and super chocolatey! After those brownies were gone, I really, really wanted to bake some for myself. April used a recipe from Taste.com.au (and just quietly, I think they were even better than David Lebovitz' cheesecake brownies). The only way I thought I could improve on them was to double the cheesecake! (Incidentally, if they were ever to make a movie of my life, that could be the title! "The Sarah Cooks Story: Double the Cheesecake", hehehe.)

My full, adapted, recipe is below, but let's have a look at the steps involved! Here's the cheesecake component! In addition to doubling the quantities, I used a vanilla pod for extra luxuriousness.

Cheesecake component

And here's the chocolate part. I love how shiny it is - must be all the butter!

Chocolate component

Dolloping the cheesecake

Cheesecake layer

So as you can see, I went for the two-layered effect, but if you wanted to go for swirly marbling, then just dollop alternate spoonfuls of each mixture into the tin and then swirl with a palette knife!

Layers

These were, as you can imagine, quite rich, so I thought they were best in little squares.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

I took the brownies to my old work on my last day there, and they went down a treat! If you like brownies and cheesecake, you can't go wrong. Enjoy!

Brownies

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
Recipe adapted from Australian Good Taste

Ingredients
For the brownie base
150 grams unsalted butter
300 grams 70% cocoa dark chocolate
2 eggs
175 grams caster sugar
Pinch of salt
1.5 cups plain flour
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
For the cheesecake topping
500 grams cream cheese, softened
140 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 30 x 20cm rectangular cake tin with baking paper.
To make the brownie base
Melt the butter and dark chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly.
Beat the eggs and add the sugar, whisking to combine. Stir the eggs and sugar into the melted chocolate.
Sift the flour and salt, then whisk it in, followed by the yogurt.
To make the cheesecake topping
Beat the cream cheese until softened, then beat in the sugar, followed by the eggs, vanilla extract and the vanilla seeds.
Spread the brownie base into the prepared tin, then dollop over the cream cheese mixture. (Alternatively, for a marbled effect, drop large spoonfuls of each mixture into the baking tin and then swirl with a palette knife).
Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until just set. (A cake tester should come out with damp crumbs clinging to it). Allow to cool before cutting into little squares to serve.
Makes a 20cm squared slab of brownie