Cheesecake Brownies with Raspberry Marble

Although I routinely get the ‘brownie-shakes’, it’s not often that I crave cheesecake.  But last week, the urge hit and I couldn’t ignore it: I just had to make something with cheesecake in it.  Since I had decided that bars would be more practical if I wanted to share these with my colleagues at work, it was just a matter of choosing the type of base I wanted.

before baking...

...after baking!

Brownies cheesecake bars sounded just too delicious and decadent to pass by.  I used the Eagle Brand recipe for the cheesecake topping, but substituted my own brownie recipe as their’s called for a boxed brownie mix.

Truth be told, although these bars are tasty and rich, they’re not my favourite.  Partially cheesecake is not my favourite dessert, but also, the cheesecake layer sometimes separated from the brownie layer — making both cutting an eating a bit tricky at times.

Still, they are quite good and I’ve heard from no complaints from my friends and family so far! Enjoy!

fudgey, creamy brownies...

Cheesecake Brownies with Raspberry Marble

Cheesecake recipe modified from Eagle Brand website.

Brownies Ingredients:

33 * 23 * 5cm baking tray lined w/ grease proof paper

• 200 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
• 175 g unsalted butter
• 325 g caster sugar
• 130 g plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 100 g walnuts
• 100 g dark chocolate, finely chopped or chocolate chips

cheesecake layer:

• 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened (I used low-fat, because that’s what I had. But I would normally use full fat.)
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup/80 mL lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon/5 mL vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup/125 mL strawberry/raspberry jam (I used a mixture of both)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 C
2. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth.
3. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and stir until well incorporated. Add the flour and stir until well incorporated. Finally, stir in the eggs and mix until thick and smooth.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese until fluffy in large bowl. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk. Mix in remaining 2 eggs, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth. Pour evenly over warm brownie.
6. Stir jam until smooth. Drop by teaspoonfuls over surface of filling. With a knife, swirl jam gently through filling to create marble effect. Bake additional 35 to 40 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Cool 1 hour. Loosely cover and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours or more. Cut into bars.