Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Cheesecake Swirl Brownies - made December 7, 2014 from Yammie's Noshery

Excuse the anemic lighting in these pictures. I only had time to bake and take pictures of these when it was dark so no natural lighting here. This was like the Cheesecake-Swirl BrownieBites but the much easier version since you bake it as an entire brownie and just cut into bars. No messing with mini muffin tins and whether or not the brownie would pop out of the pan easily.

I think I just made these to use up more of the cream cheese packs I bought from Costco, not that I had any lingering love for a cheesecake-swirl brownie. Plus this was much easier to portion out, wrap up and include in my holiday gifts than the bites were.

My only issue with recipes like this is the cheesecake parts tend to brown before the brownie parts are done. In all the pretty pictures of cheesecake brownies I’ve seen, they always have perfectly pale, no-brown-spots cheesecake swirls. I swear they must have airbrushed those like models with flawless skin because for the life of me, I’ve never been able to have anything cheesecake-involved not have a little bit of browning to them. It doesn’t affect the taste and you know me as the Queen of Underbaking so I know I’m not overbaking the brownies. It’s just the darn cheesecake parts won’t stay uniformly pale while the brownie parts bake to fudgy goodness (not mushy mess).

Anyway, once you get over that, these brownies are pretty good and a nice way to dress up the brownie, even if you’re not a cheesecake lover.

Brownies
2 sticks of butter, melted
2 1/4 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups of cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips

Cheesecake
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

1. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Melt the butter with the sugar in a pot on the stove over medium heat until bubbly, whisking occasionally. Allow to cool for at least ten minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and flour and mix well to combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the pan.
3. In a separate bowl combine the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and egg.
4. Make about one long trench at a time in the brownie batter with the end of a wooden spoon and fill it with the cream cheese mixture. You'll probably need about 5 trenches going across the long side of the pan. 
5. Take a knife and cut rows all the way through the batter the opposite direction of the trenches to marble-ize.
6. Bake for about half an hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs, not raw batter. Cool completely.