Snow Day! Fuzz is staying home from school today and to celebrate, we’re making our favorite brownies. It was a long time coming, but we finally found the cream cheese brownies we like best.
This recipe is adapted from the Tate’s Bake Shop cookbook, and to be honest I was a little hesitant about trying it. The brownies are made in a 9 inch square pan and call for a full pound of cream cheese. Also, the cream cheese filling only has 1 egg and 1/4 cup of sugar. Would it be sweet enough? Would it really fit in the pan?
Well, yes! With less sugar, we could really taste the tartness of the cream cheese and the small amount of egg kept the cream cheese mixture from browning too much or tasting eggy. I hope you like these as much as I do. If you’re curious as to how they taste but don’t want a full batch, you can also halve the recipe and make it in a 9 inch loaf pan.
Cream Cheese Brownies
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (9 oz)
2 sticks (8 oz total) salted butter** (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour (4.5 oz)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, room temperature
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9 inch square metal pan with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.
Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat or in microwave. Set aside to cool. While chocolate cools, make the cream cheese filling (directions at bottom).
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Lower mixer speed and add eggs, one by one, followed by two teaspoons of vanilla, and melted chocolate. By hand or using the lowest speed of mixer, beat in the flour and salt.
Scrape all but about 1 cup of the chocolate batter into the foil lined pan and smooth it out. Spread the cream cheese filling over the chocolate mixture. Spoon the remaining chocolate batter over the cream cheese mixture. Pull a table knife through the layers of batter with a light lifting motivation to create a marble look.
Bake on center rack for 50 minutes. Set the brownies on a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely, then chill for a few hours or if you have the time, overnight. These are even better on Day 2.
Lift foil from pan, place on a cutting board, peel back foil and cut with a Chef’s knife.
Cream Cheese Filling: To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Add the egg. Lower speed of mixer and beat the egg just until it’s mixed in.
**if using unsalted butter, add an extra scant ½ teaspoon of salt.
Anna says
February 6, 2011 at 9:41 pmI’m surprised you were able to fit all of that into an 8 inch pan. Impressive. Yes, try again in the right size pan.
d says
February 6, 2011 at 9:38 pmI made these last night but accidently used an 8″ pan instead of 9″. The middle wasn’t cooked through because of my mistake but the flavor and texture of the cooked edges were amazing!!! Will definitely make these again in the right sized pan. Thanks so much for posting this recipe Anna. I thought I already had a perfect cream cheese brownie recipe but these might be better!!!!
Heidi says
February 5, 2011 at 10:59 pmYeah, 1/4 cup sugar does not sound like enough for a full lb of cream cheese. And wow, 2 sticks butter AND a full lb of cream cheese in a small 9 inch pan?!!! That’s my kind of brownie. Sounds excellent. They look nice and thick. But I do admit, I would be tempted to dump a bit more sugar into the cream cheese.
Sherry says
February 4, 2011 at 7:24 pmThese look like you really get a great amount of cream cheese in them and it’s not overly brownie. Loe it!
HeartofGlass says
February 4, 2011 at 6:18 pmI always feel like you read my mind–I was thinking of making cream cheese brownies for Superbowl Weekend (since it seems a way to combine cream cheesy dip and chocolate)!
I saw the pic and thought: wow, that looks like a lot of cream cheese, and then I read the recipe–1 pound of cc in a 9 inch pan. Oh baby!
Fallon says
February 4, 2011 at 6:15 pmThese look great. I like that it doesn’t skimp on the cream cheese layer!
Cupcake Activist says
February 4, 2011 at 5:46 pmI’ve never had brownies with cream cheese before. Seems like a good combination, but I’ve never seen it before. I HAVE to try it.
Katrina says
February 4, 2011 at 5:03 pmI love it that school was cancelled for that snow. How much snow did you get?
Those do look like a good cream cheese layered brownie.
Helena says
February 4, 2011 at 1:45 pmThis is actually the first recipe for cream cheese brownies where the cream cheese doesn’t look yellow and burnt. I really need to try these, I’ve been looking for a recipe with a rather tart flavor 🙂
jessielou says
February 4, 2011 at 1:11 pmI need a self imposed snow day as an excuse to stay home and bake! Maybe this weekend if I have time…yum!
May Bowser says
February 4, 2011 at 11:41 amI love cream cheese brownies!! YUM
Adam says
February 4, 2011 at 11:20 amI have yet to make cream cheese brownies. I’ve wanted to for quite some time and these might be the ones. I find the idea of “less sweet” quite appealing :).
Kathryn says
February 4, 2011 at 11:09 amOh wow, a full pound of cream cheese…drool… Those look incredible! I’ve never tried making anything but boring old chocolate brownies, so I may have to add this to my “to make” list!
Ryan says
February 4, 2011 at 11:02 amOh my, these look delicious! My boyfriend’s birthday is coming up and cream cheese brownies are his favorite. I will definitely be making these! 🙂
Amy @ What Jew Wanna Eat says
February 4, 2011 at 9:37 amThese look great! I wish I stocked my kitchen for baking on this Texas snow day. I guess I will have to catch up on Jersey Shore instead.