Cheesecake brownies

I owe you a lot of recipes, but for now, here’s something to tide you over: cheesecake-marbled brownies. There are probably even more righteous combinations of dairy + chocolate than this, but for something that only takes one pan and a handful of steps, it’s pretty good.

Cheesecake brownies
Adapted from Epicurious via Smitten Kitchen

1 stick butter
3 oz unsweetened chocolate (I use Baker’s brand, but you could go ritzy and use Ghiradelli or something even better!)
2 eggs + 1 yolk
3/4 t. vanilla
2/3 c. flour
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Grease an eight or nine inch square baking pan really well, and preheat the oven to 350.

Melt the stick of butter with the unsweetened chocolate. I like to do this in the microwave in 30-second bursts; if you are (like me) disinclined to chop chocolate, you’ll want to take plenty of time to stir it well between turns in the microwave. When it’s smooth, stir in the sugar, then the two whole eggs and half a teaspoon of the vanilla. Add the flour and mix just until combined. Spread this layer in the baking pan.

Then cream together the cream cheese, the egg yolk, the remaining quarter teaspoon vanilla, and the remaining third of a cup of sugar. If the cream cheese is cold, you’d do well to soften it in the microwave like butter. (I use the defrost setting of my microwave for this.)

Dollop the cheesecake mix over the brownie base, and then swirl it with a knife. (This means to take a butter knife, put the tip all the way down to the bottom of the pan, and then draw it through the batter, creating a swirl. I usually go up and down, then side to side, and sometimes also diagonally for good measure.) Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Slice small!