Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Brownies

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Brownies - made January 21, 2022 from Creme de la Crumb 

Cream Cheese Batter

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1 egg

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Brownie batter

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Frosting

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8" pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. Cream Cheese batter: in a medium bowl, stir together melted chocolate chips, egg, cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth; set aside.
3. Brownie batter: in a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder until combined and smooth. Beat in eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until well combined.
4. Add cream cheese batter to brownie batter and mix until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth into an even layer. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely.
6. Prepare frosting: blend together melted chocolate and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth and combined; thin with milk if needed for a spreadable consistency. Spread over cooled brownies.

The original recipe called these Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Brownies but I think these would be more accurately called Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies. Mostly because the brownie is made of chocolate cream cheese.

Rather than the typical cream cheese brownie of making a cream cheese batter and a brownie batter that then get swirled together, this has you making both batters then mixing them completely together for a homogenous chocolate brownie batter. Hence, chocolate cream cheese.

The result? Genius. I loved the texture on this brownie. Dense and fudgy without being overwhelming. For those like me who aren't a huge fan of the tang of cream cheese, you don't get it in this brownie. The cream cheese contributes more to the fudgy texture rather than the flavor. I even liked the frosting - and you know I'm not a fan of frosting.

But this made just the right of frosting and also didn't have the tang of cream cheese. Overall, a great brownie.

Just one cautionary note: the recipe says to bake for 30-35 minutes. I ended up baking mine for almost an hour before I was satisfied with the toothpick test. The batter is creamy and thick so don't expect a completely "clean" toothpick test. A few moist crumbs or something beyond raw batter is fine. Every oven is different so go by the toothpick test and appearance. Mine developed a bit of a crust before I deemed them done enough to take out. But the frosting takes care of that.