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Cream Cheese Brownies

Cream Cheese Brownies

These cream cheese brownies are the ultimate dessert for those of us who have a passion for both chocolatey brownies and creamy cheesecake. Now you can have them both in one indulgent piece of heaven on a plate.

These brownies are rich and chocolatey. They have a simple but delicious cream cheese filling. Together it’s a fabulous dessert.

Often also called cheesecake brownies, these great squares are perfect any time. They are a great dessert on their own, even better with a scoop of homemade ice cream, either vanilla or chocolate.

The bonus is that these chocolate brownies are easy to make, even with their fantastic, creamy surprise filling. Just make up the brownie recipe and the cheesecake filling separately. Then spread half of your brownie batter in a large pan. It doesn’t have to be exact. Just estimate what half the batter is. Spread it out evenly in your baking pan.

Make sure you remember to just use half of the brownie mixture in the first layer. You’ll need the rest to be spread on top of the sweet cream cheese layer.

Spread the creamy cheesecake filling over the layer of brownie batter. Don’t worry if it’s perfectly spread out. You will see in a minute that is really doesn’t matter all that much. Just make sure it is relatively even across the pan, right to the edges.


Once you have the cream cheese mixture spread over the brownies, spread the second half of the brownie batter over top of the cream cheese filling. Spread it right out to the end.

You can leave it like this and you will end up with wonderful brownies filled with cheesecake. What I like to do is just take an extra few seconds to make it even prettier.

How to Make Swirled Cream Cheese Brownies

Once all the layers are in your baking pan, take a butter knife and stick it down into the batter. Make sure the knife goes into the cheesecake layer as well as the top brownie layer. Now just take your knife and swirl it a bit in the batter layers to mix the layers just a bit. Have a look at the image to see what I mean. That is what it should look like after you have swirled it. You will have the brownies mixed a bit with the cheesecake, which looks pretty and tastes great.

This is what it will look like when it’s baked:

Cream cheese brownies in Pan

The only thing I warn you against is mixing the two batters together too much. If you do that, you won’t end up with two great batters swirled together. You’ll have one big batch of cheesy brownies. It will still taste good, but won’t look as fantastic as what you will create by gently swirling the batters together just a bit.

These brownies are a delicious treat any time. Think about them the next time you are creating a dessert buffet.

They are perfect when you are looking for holiday baking recipes too. Cream cheese brownies would be a nice addition to your selection of holiday sweet treats. I love having a selection of desserts at holiday meals, so everyone can have what they really want, and maybe taste a few delights.

Cream cheese brownies are perfect for a cookie exchange too, although you may not want to give any away. You can always save them for your best friends or just bake an extra few batches. They will always disappear quickly.

I hope you enjoy this delicious, easy to make brownie recipe as much as I do. If you do, please share your comments below the recipe.

Enjoy.

Cream Cheese Brownies

Cream Cheese Brownies

Part moist and delicious brownies, part cheesecake. An easy chocolate dessert recipe I think you will love.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 16
Calories 486 kcal

Equipment

  • 13"x9"x2" baking pan

Ingredients
 
 

For the Brownies:

  • 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
  • 1 cup butter, or margarine
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 eggs, large
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup nuts, coarsely chopped

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

  • 16 ounces cream cheese, softened (2 - 8 ounce packages)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 egg

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with shortening or non-stick spray.
  • Melt the chocolate and butter in a 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Let it cool.
  • Beat the cream cheese filling ingredients together until smooth and set aside.
  • Beat together the cooled chocolate mixture, sugar, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute, scraping the bowl occasionally.
  • Beat in the flour and salt on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Stir in the nuts. Spread half of the batter (2 1/2 cups) in the pan. Spread the cheesecake filling over the batter. Carefully spread the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese filling.
  • You can bake it as is or create the pretty design you see in the picture. To do that, take a butter knife and insert it into the layers of batter. Swirl the knife a bit so that the batters mix just a bit into a swirl pattern as in the image.
  • Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cheesecake brownies in the pan on a wire rack.
    Cream cheese brownies in Pan
  • Makes 9 to 16 brownies.

Nutrition

Calories: 486kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 7gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 294mgPotassium: 170mgFiber: 2gSugar: 34gVitamin A: 831IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 56mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Refrigerate any remaining brownies.

If you like these cream cheese brownies you may also want to try these decadent raspberry filled brownies.

You can browse all of our easy dessert recipes here.

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