Sweet Delicious Cheesecake Brownie – 2nd Attempt
Yes I’m back! I apologize for the lack of posts. I’m rarely at home these days and I can’t even remember spending time with the computer as gym, happy hours, and lots of schmoozing occupy my days.
Now many of you should know how much I love this Cookie Madness website. I have never brownies before and I thought I would make the attempt to actually do it. I am not much of a baker, but somehow baking helps me cope with stress in my current life. You can ask any of my friends in the past and they will tell you that I was never much of a baker because of my lazy ways. This time, I was highly motivated to make it for two particular young attractive people in my life whom I absolutely adore! Yes I have to have the curiosity first and then the motivation in order to bake. Sounds crazy right? But that’s just how I am.
Ok, you must be wondering from reading the title of my post, where is the first attempt? Well, the first attempt ended in such utter shame and embarrassment that I cannot even begin to post about it because it makes me mad. Make a long story short, I will never make dark chocolate brownies and I will never take the timing of the baking process on the instructions in a literal manner. Never, ever, in my personal experience bake brownies in a 9 inch baking pan for more than 35 minutes. Never!!
This is the recipe that I used. Yes I used a 9 incher instead of an 8 incher, but that shouldn’t even matter all that much. I admit that I did overbake it, but overall I did not skew the results of the recipe! Maybe I personally do not like dark chocolate all too much, but baking over 35 minutes is too much! When you take the brownies out of the oven, the heat from the pan continues to “bake” the brownies so I think 30-35 minutes is the best time. Let me show you the pictures of my failed attempt, which I hate to show!
Dark chocolate brownies
Overbaked Dark Chocolate Brownies
I did bring these brownies to my friend at work and she said she can understand why I did not like this. As an avid brownie taster, she told me in a very nice manner via email that she loves the taste of rich dark cocoa, but if the texture was a tad bit more moist, it would be perfect. Now if you take a closer look at the above two photos, you’ll see how dry and brittle it is. Brownies should always be moist and I learned that lesson!
Because of my first poor attempt at brownies, I decided not to use the Cookie Madness website even though I love that website! And fortunately for me, there wasn’t a recipe for Cheesecake Brownie so that works well with me. The reason why I decided to make this brownie is because I am highly addicted to the cheesecake brownie at Au Bon Pain. I can inhale that brownie in a matter of seconds! That is how much I am in love with that brownie and I know I had a bad first attempt, but I needed to know if I can be successful this time. I have learned from my past mistakes and have hopes to use that knowledge to help me win this time around! I have to admit, I was pretty reluctant to make brownies again, but this time I motivated to bake for a few particular persons that I hold dearly to my heart. Having this gave me the courage and the will to bake and I know that I could not fail.
The recipe that I used is from David Lebovitz. Of course I made a few changes, but this is the foundation of my of my brownie recipe!
Cheesecake Brownies
Use a 9-inch square pan
Ingredients:
Brownie Batter:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 ounces of semisweet chocolate (Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking Squares)
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon of Karo corn syrup
Cheesecake Spread
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
5 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, making sure it goes up all four sides. Grease lightly with butter.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Place butter and chocolate in a bowl. In a medium pan, boil a little bit of water so just it simmers in medium heat and place a stand in the pan. Then take the bowl and place it on the stand so the butter and chocolate melts. Stir continuously in medium heat until melted.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool for 2 minutes. Transfer this mixture onto your mixing bowl and beat in 2/3 cups of sugar and then the eggs.
5. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then the vanilla, chocolate chips and Karo corn syrup.
6. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
7. In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, the yolk, 5 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
8. Distribute the cream cheese mixture in eight scoops across the top of the brownie mixture. Then take a dull knife and swirl the cream cheese mixture with the chocolate batter to create that marble effect.
9. After this is done, place it in the oven for 35 minutes or until the batter has set!
10. Take it out of the oven and take out the brownies by lifting the aluminum foil and let it rest on your kitchen counter so that the brownies doesn’t over bake.
This is my outcome:
Cheesecake Brownies
Cheesecake Brownie
Close-up of Cheesecake Brownie
Not bad for a first attempt! Yay! Even though it does not look as good as the Au Bon Pain one, I personally think this tastes amazing. The brownie is nice and moist, with a mouth watering rich soft texture that is literaly to die for. The reason why I add that teaspoon of Karo corn syrup is so that it makes it more moist. It does so by slowing down the crystallization process of the sugar. That’s going to be my only Bill Nye moment, haha. I can officially say my gym efforts are wasted and that I’m going to be the fattest Maid of Honor this coming October! My parents and brother don’t like chocolate, but after a giving them a small piece to try, they liked it which made be feel confident. But to give me piece of mind, I brought it to my dear friend and he liked it! Now I have to bring it into work to my friend and hope that she likes it as well even though she isn’t a fan of this cheesecake business.
Anyways, please enjoy this recipe if you attempt to make it. And always, feel free to give me your favorite brownie recipes because I am a fan of brownies!
Love,
FCG.
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2 Responses to “Sweet Delicious Cheesecake Brownie – 2nd Attempt”
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Soooo…when am I going to get my piece???
looks good! it reminds me that i have some brownie mixes that I should get to.