Cream Cheese Brownies

anonymous23's Note:

These are my mom's creation--kind of. The brownies are Marcia Adams's "Very Best Brownies" from her Heartland cookbook. The cream cheese filling is my mom's concoction. I like that the cream cheese layer doesn't overwhelm the brownies.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 24

Brownies

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups sugar
• 7 tablespoons cocoa (not quite 1/2 c)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) or 1/2 cup pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese Layer

• 1 egg
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine butter, sugar, and cocoa in large mixing bowl.
3. Add eggs, one at a time. Blend after each addition.
4. Add remaining ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. In another bowl, combine ingredients for cream cheese layer. Mix until smooth.
6. In 9 x 13 greased baking dish, pour half of brownie batter. Smooth to even.
7. Spoon the cream cheese layer into the baking dish. This shouldn't be an easily spreadable layer--we just dollop and try to smooth it out for a more even distribution.
8. Use butter knife to slightly marble into bottom layer.
9. Top with remaining brownie mixture. Spread as evenly as you can, then tap pan lightly on counter to level batter.
10. Bake 20-25 minutes (some ovens require a full 30 to completely bake), until the top is firm to the touch. Baking too long will result in dry brownies.
11. Allow to stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Reviews

[AlainaF]

Wow, a rare miss for me. The cooking temp and time in this recipe was way off for me. It was too low of heat and even after 45 minutes of cooking time, the brownies were still undercooked. So I increased the heat to 400 and let it cook for 20 minutes, and it cooked perfectly. Not the best cream cheese brownies I've had, my husband likes them though. I had to pour caramel sauce over them to make them sweet, as the brownies weren't really sweet, not sure why, I followed the recipe exactly.

[kymmarye]

Yummy! I made a reduced fat version of this recipe and it turned out GREAT! I substituted the eggs with egg beaters and I used reduced fat cream cheese. I also used 1/2 the butter and replaced the other 1/2 with unsweetened applesauce.

[shanpick]

Ah-Mazing! ;-) I really liked these. They were fudgey just like a brownie should be, and yummy!! I was looking for a recipe that used coca powder instead of bakers chocolate, and the Betty Crocker version used both bakers choc. and an entire package of cream cheese! Thanks for this recipe! :)