The best of both worlds: cheesecake marbled brownies

I have always loved baking and could spend hours reading baking blogs. The beautiful pictures, delicious combination of flavors, and creative ideas amaze me and make my mouth water. I am constantly copying and pasting every recipe I want to try into a massive email, while finding whatever occasion I can to make the next recipe on my list. The only problem is that most of the recipes I find end up requiring more time than I have or too many ingredients that I don't have stocked in my pantry. So my Lady Bits baking goal is to whittle down my list of recipes to find the ones that produce fail proof deliciousness while being easy and straightforward.

These brownies do just that. They are the best of both worlds: delicious, rich chocolate topped with swirls of cheesecake goodness. They are so good that even my brother, who doesn't really like chocolate (!), loves them. Plus you'll never have to grapple between competing cheesecake and chocolate cravings ever again. 

Cheesecake Marbled Brownies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen (This blog is amazing. If you don't already read it, you should. I guarantee a lot of my recipes will come from her!)

Ingredients

Brownie Batter

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup all purpose flour

Cheesecake Batter

8 ounces cream cheese, well softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350°F and butter 8x8 inch square baking pan

2) Make brownie batter

• Cut chocolate and butter into pieces. 
• Heat butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, whisking occasionally until just melted (or make a homemade double boiler with a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan filled with boiling water. This technique also makes it easier to mix the rest of the ingredients and leads to one less dirty pot, which is always a plus in my book)
• Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla and a pinch of salt until well combined
• Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan 

3) Make cheesecake batter

• Whisk together cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla until smooth

4) Dollop spoonfuls of the cheesecake batter on top of the brownies. 

5) Use a knife to marble the cheesecake and brownie batter together. I find that I always have way more cheesecake batter on top than brownie batter, so try and scoop up parts of the brownie batter over the cheesecake to make a more even marbling effect. Or even try and make indents in the brownie batter for the dollops of cheesecake to fall into before marbling.

6) Sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter

7) Bake until the edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 30 - 35 minutes

8) Chill brownies. These are much easier to cut when they are cold and personally I think they taste delicious straight out of the fridge.