Baked By Buttercup: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies!

Oh yes, I went there. Where? There. To the place where cheesecake meets brownie in a marriage so delicious that can only be improved by chocolate chips. I love cream cheese frosting and fillings, so cheesecake seemed like a likely next step in my baking career. And I’ve made brownies from scratch so many times that I could do it in my sleep (although that would probably be a bad idea). So I went for it and decided to make cheesecake brownies.

You may have also noticed that I decided to make yet another dessert with a marbled top. Why you ask? Because I need to get better at marbled toppings. I know that it is a silly thing to need to do, but trust me, I needed to. Anyway, it turned out okay this time. Cheesecake and brownie batter is a lot easier to manipulate than chocolate that is rapidly hardening, so I had that in my favor. And, once again, I found that cutting the dessert into squares always makes it looks great.

Back to why I decided on this particular delectable treat. I knew my roommate’s boyfriend Chris would be over later that evening and he LOVES cheesecake. So I knew that these brownies would go to a very appreciative stomach. I also had a Christmas party that might, and wanted to bring a tasty hostess gift. And then there were my delightful RAs on duty at USD on Saturday night as well. All in all, I knew that baking on Saturday was going to be a great idea because there were so many opportunities to share my creation with others.

I had a recipe in the “The Cookie and Biscuit Bible” by Catherine Atkinson for Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies that looked delicious, so I used that as my jumping off point. I adapted it a little because it seemed strange to me that there was no salt. Also, since the bar of dark chocolate I bought was only 3.5 ounces, not 4 ounces like the recipe called for, I decided to add chocolate chips to the brownies to make sure no chocolatey goodness was lost.

It's hard to imagine missing any flavor when this is the base for the brownies. YUM.

Without further ado, here are my Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies

For the cheesecake mixture:

1 egg

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the brownie mixture:

3.5 oz. dark/bittersweet chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

½ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease the base and sides of an 8x8” square pan. (I don’t have an 8x8” square pan, so I went for a 7x11” rectangular pan since it was the closest in area…yup, I like math.)

To make the cheesecake mixture, beat the egg in a mixing bowl, then add the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy.

You almost want to forgo the brownie and just eat the cheesecake...almost, I said almost.

To make the brownie mixture, melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl set over gently simmering water.

Melt, baby, melt.

When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove from the heat.

Oooh! Shiny!

Stir the mixture well and then add the sugar. Add the eggs a little at a time and at well. Gently stir in the flour. Then add the chocolate chips. Spread 2/3 of the brownie mixture over the base of the pan.