Sunday, February 20, 2011

Cheesecake Chocolate Brownie

I have not baked for a long while now and was in the mood to do so after coming home from work. I wanted to make something that was quick and didn't take too long in the kitchen. Something which didn't require creaming and one of the recipes which fall into this category would have been a brownie. However I wanted something different, not the usual chocolate brownie and decided to try my hand at a cheesecake brownie. I love the swirl look of this dessert, coupled with the fact that it is intensely chocolatey, not forgetting you have the cheese element thrown in as well.

This recipe comes from "Ready for Dessert" by David Lebowitz, one of my recent acquisitions to my baking library books. You can serve this brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or just eat it on its own. Great with a cuppa coffee that's for sure! As usual my office colleagues benefited from my baking evening and they gave the thumbs up for this brownie.

Photobucket


Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies
One 9-inch (23cm) or 8-inch (20cm) square pan
Adapted from "Ready for Dessert by David Lebowitz"


Ingredients:

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
110g bittersweet chocolate chips
110g sugar (reduced from original recipe)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
70g plain flour
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Valhora chocolate pearls, for sprinkling
1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans

For the cheesecake topping:

200g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
60g sugar (reduced from original recipe)
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1) Line a 9-inch (23cm) or 8-inch (20cm), for a higher brownie square pan with foil, making sure it goes up all four sides. Use two sheets if necessary. Mist with non-stick spray or grease lightly.

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180C).

3) In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in the sugar, then the eggs.

4) Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then the vanilla and pecans. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.

5) In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, the yolk, 5 tablespoons (75g) of sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

6) Distribute the cream cheese mixture in eight dollops across the top of the brownie mixture, then take a dull knife or spatula and swirl the cream cheese mixture with the chocolate batter. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate pearls.

7) Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the batter in the center of the pan feels just set.

8) Let cool, then lift out the foil and peel it away. Cut the brownies into squares.

Storage: These will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days. They also freeze well, too.

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28 comments:

The Sweetylicious said...

it look so yummy and chocolaty! (: (:

Honey Bee Sweets said...

So chocolaty! Love cheesecake brownies.... Super satisfying, yum! ;)

NEL, the batter baker said...

These look so amazing!

CaThY said...

Awesome! I love these brownies~ *^_^*

Jean said...

i have this book in my shelf too! now you make me dying to try out this recipe :)

Wen said...

Lovely bake! Look fudgy and cheesy!

E. said...

Yum! The swirls are so beautiful. I actually made these once and they were amazing. It was very hard to resist eating these little treats. I decreased the amount of sugar used because I didn't want it to be too sweet and I baked them in little squares.

Cooking Gallery said...

This looks soooo good....I need to stop thinking about the calories and find some time to make it soon ;)!!

Edith said...

OMGosh, sinfully delicious.

j3ss kitch3n said...

this looks sinfully divine!

Joyce @ Chunky Cooky said...

Wowow...looks so chocolately fudgely good !

Passionate About Baking said...

Gee, this looks good and simple to indulge! :)

tigerfish said...

Indeed, the swirls are beautiful on the chocolate brownie. And you just combined my top favorites of cake "flavors" - chocolate and cheesecake!

Anonymous said...

This looks so good! The right ratio between chocolate and cheesecake.

Juliana said...

Wow, what a lovely treat...this brownies topped with cheesecake are gorgeous :-)

Lee said...

Hi Jo, ladies like you who can bake such masterpieces under different circumstances can be dangerous to bachelors.
One mouthful....he'll have dreams of the cook, ha ha.

Your this cake is not only beautiful, but looks sinfully delicious!
Outstanding, Jo!
Have fun and keep a song in your heart.
Best regards, Lee.

olivia said...

I was talking about having a wonderful slice of cheesy brownie over lunch before stumbling on your blog... this cheesecake is exactly what I need... :)

oneordinaryday said...

Oh my goodness, they look amazing. I've been wanting to get my hands on that cookbook and now I want it even more!

Pei-Lin said...

Jo, to everyone's surprise, I've not made cheesecake brownies before! HAHA! I guess too much distraction around. LOL! I wish I can have a slice of your brownies now. I like the aesthetic value of its swirly looks!

Bakertan said...

I made this quite recently. yours look so much more appetizing than mine. I think i'm gonna bake it in an 8 inch tin for a greater height next time and will bake mine longer too for a firmer texture.

Bakericious said...

looks very tempting! I have tried DDL brownie from David before, very delicious too.

El said...

These look like heaven. Perfect!!!

Lisa said...

Those look very tempting. Who could resist two delicious treats combined into one? I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your brownies up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-6.html

Anonymous said...

Looks so delicious...especially the varlhona choc pearls...are those the crunchy dark choc type? Hope u can advise where i can buy them?

Thks,
Susanna

Jo said...

Hi Susanna, these are just pearls, not the crunchy ones as they can't stand baking heat. If you are looking for either of them and you are staying in Singapore, you can go to Sun Lik at Seah Street. Alternatively Shermays at Chip Bee Garden also stocks them.

Anonymous said...

Thks for the helpful info! :)

Susanna

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