Brace yourself for these lovelies..
The one on the left is from the center of the pan and the one on the right is from the edge. Now let’s get to the batter:
Dropping the cheesecake batter on top of the brownie mixture..
…and giving it a little swirl.
Freshly cut right from the oven!
My parents are out of town this weekend and I feel like I’m playing “mom.” Picking up dinner (since I can’t cook), doing dishes 24:7, worrying about my siblings when they’re driving far distances or not home by ten, and making them constantly tell me where they are. It’s a tiresome job! A job that I didn’t even necessarily need to pick up, but I did anyway for the weekend.
I know what you’re thinking.. open house?! Party! Yeah, no. My party consisted of baking 24 pumpkin muffins with a pecan streusel and a swirl of cream cheese (which are pure bliss & coming to you soon!) and watching Prisonbreak. Sometimes I wonder if I’m living my 80 year old life now, since I’m definitely a boring 23 year old. Too bad I wouldn’t have it any other way. Maybe I’ll be partying it up when I’m 80 instead.. it only makes sense.
I’m still working on using that giant jar of nutella that I have from Costco. I’ve made cookies and cupcakes— it’s only logical to make brownies next!
When my mom ate these, the first thing she said was, “Why don’t you make things from scratch more often?”
Me: “Huh? Ummm… I always bake things from scratch, mom.”
Mom: “Oh.. that explains why these are so good then!”
Yup, that didn’t make any sense whatsoever, but that’s why I love conversations with my mom.
This recipe comes with little adaptation from Flour on My Face. It’s a wonderful base for a brownie recipe if you choose to omit the cheesecake/nutella part, too! I like my brownies fudgy, so the middle of the pan was my favorite. 🙂
Cream Cheese Topping
- 5 oz Philly Cream Cheese
- 2 tbs softened butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs flour
- 1/4 cup Nutella
Brownie Batter
- 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup Herseys Special Dark Cocoa
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 stick of softened butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- Pre-heat oven to 350′
- Grease and line a 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray.
Cream cheese frosting
- Cream together butter, sugar and flour. Add cream cheese and mix/blend until smooth. Scrape bowl and add the egg and beat until the topping is nice and creamy. Scrap bowl and add Nutella, beat about one minute or until the nutella is mixed into the cream cheese mixture completely.
- Set topping aside and mix brownie batter.
Brownie batter
- Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium sized bowl.
- In a small bowl cream sugar and 1/2 stick of butter, add eggs one at a time, beat well then add vanilla.
- Fold egg, sugar, butter and vanilla mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients.
- Spread 3/4 of the brownie batter into the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish.
- Randomly dollop the cream cheese topping over the brownie batter.
- Randomly dollop the rest of the brownie batter on top of the cream cheese batter. Swirl with the tip of a knife.
- Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes.