Last Updated on February 28, 2019 by Fiona Maclean
Cream Cheese Brownies
I can’t bake:
I tried last month’s ‘We should cocoa’ challenge and it was too embarrassing even to post a photo! It did actually taste very good…my macaroon batter worked just fine. Unfortunately, my presentation skills didn’t…and I ended up with little green snail biscuits.
This month’s challenge is just a little bit easier and so I’ve had a go. My Cream Cheese Brownies are based on a David Lebovitz recipe…and are probably the best thing I’ve baked to date in terms of sheer yumminess. That might just have something to do with the 85% green and blacks chocolate…or just be greed on my part!
So here’s the link to the original recipe and then my version and method. Mine really didn’t look much like the original photo…and I suspect the reason was the cream cheese mixture being just too runny. So next time I will try a different brand…or just not mix it so much.
- 85 g Unsalted Butter
- 125 g Dark chocolate should be at least 70%
- 125 g Caster Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 70 g Plain Flour
- 1 heaped tablespoon Bournville Cocoa Powder
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1/8 teaspoon Vanilla powder (you can use vanilla sugar in place of the caster sugar and this)
- 80 g Chocolate chunks (or substitute chopped 70% chocolate)
- 200 g Cream cheese
- 1 Large Egg Yolk
- 75 g Caster Sugar
- 1 pinch Vanilla Powder (you can use vanilla sugar in place of the caster sugar and this)
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Prepare a square pan by lining with foil and then greasing the foil lightly
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Heat the oven to 180c
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Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a medium bowl with the butter
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Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave and stir to mix through.
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Stir 130g of caster sugar through the mixture and continue stirring till it has all dissolved
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Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into the chocolate mixture and stir through.
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Add the chocolate chunks and vanilla to the batter and then pour/spread into the prepared tin
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Beat the cream cheese, egg yolk, remaining vanilla and sugar together
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Blob the cream cheese mixture on top of the chocolate brownie mix and then using a palate</g> knife, stir through to create a marbled effect.
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Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes till the batter is set
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Remove from the oven and allow to cool, before peeling away the foil and cutting into squares.
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Eat any leftover crumbs while warm and be virtuous and freeze the rest;)
I really am very pleased with these. I’ve been VERY well behaved and frozen most of them because the illustrious Mr Lebovitz says they freeze well…and also because I am still eating my way through a stack of easter eggs. But they are gooey in exactly the way brownies should be when warm…and moist and beautiful when cold. And I could just go and take one out of the freezer now and warm it through…but I am NOT NOT NOT going to do so…
These look delectable. I imagine them having a thin crisp crust which yields to a soft, gooey moist centre. I’d love to see a nutty variation of this.
that would make for double chocolate cheese brownies?!!!
Fantastic Fiona, just shows of course you can bake. They look really delicious, fudgy with a nice crisp top, as a good brownie should be but with an extra cheesy twist. I’ve only made cream cheese brownies with the cheese as a middle layer – will now have to try this method. Really pleased you entered WSC this time and thank you.
you never saw the snail-macaroons, I wish I’d taken a pic just to show you how funny they looked…they were meant to be for your ‘green and chocolate’ event (I was going to fill with chocolate mint ganache, but in the end they looked so silly I didn’t even try!
I love cream cheese brownies – delicious! I can just imagine them warm and gooey…excuse me… must stop drooling! 😉
I think david lebovitz’s promise that they taste even better if you freeze them is really good. You can take one or two out at a time;)
“There’s nothing wrong w/ that.” Actually, I posted something about German cheesecake brownies a while back and I know one of the challenges is to get the two different batters to “marry”. This looks GREAT.
lol thank you for your comment! I am so not a baker though! it’s only the UKFBA who keep running challenges;)
These combine two of my favourite desserts – brownies and cheesecake! Sounds lovely.
they are VERY good! and…I can now vouch that they work rather well taken from the freezer and zapped in the microwave to defrost and warm up a bit!
Well Done Fiona, we’ll make a baker of you yet!
hahahaha!!!! ummm, well, they are good and I did try! but I think the recipe is probably failsafe with all that chocolate!!!