Cheesecake-marbled brownies

Upon the creation of E&T (edibles and travels), it was always the idea to have two things on this blog:

1. Travel articles

2. Restaurant reviews (inc. Sunday Sweets)

However, after much inspiration from various food bloggers around the world (or around the internet, whatever tickles your fancy) I’ve decided that every time I try a new recipe, I shall be ever so kind and write a post about it. As you can probably guess, most of the recipes will be sweet treats or desserts as these foods are undoubtedly my favourite kind. However, for you loyal readers (hey, mum), I will try especially for you to try some savoury recipes and post about them too.

So, are you ready? Prepare for you stomach to growl and your tastebuds to dance a crazy dance. The ethereal cheesecake-marbled brownie I baked today is from this website, Smitten Kitchen, which is a fantastic blog with so many recipes of all kinds of food it will make your head spin with pure delight and fascination.

For such a simple recipe, these brownies are hands down one of the best I’ve ever tried (even though they were made by myself, a seriously amateur cook). There aren’t many ingredients and the steps are so simple it will hurt your pretty little heads. If you’ve ever looked at something that looks so incredibly delicious and said ‘Oh gee, that looks so hard I could never make that’ then this recipe is for you.

Makes: 16 thick square brownies.

Brownie batter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate, chopped (can use a little bit more if you like it extra chocolatey) 
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs (I found that small eggs did the trick just fine)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (free pour anyone?)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour is a good substitute, before you go googling it!)

Cheesecake batter 
1 cup of cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk (again, small yolk is fine)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Plus
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or normal cooking chocolate chips if you like it extra sweet like moi)

Make brownie batter:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 180°C. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a saucepan over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted. 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.

Make cheesecake batter: Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.

– Smitten Kitchen advised using a butter knife because the tip of it is round enough that you can use it to fold bits of the brownie batter over the cheesecake batter for a more visibly marbled effect – it worked fantastically!

Sprinkle chocolate chips over cheesecake/brownie batter swirl. Make sure there aren’t too many chocolate chips as it detracts from the beautiful marble effect!

Bake brownies: Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

N.B. I’ve adapted Smitten Kitchen’s recipe slightly to how I made the brownies, and also converted the measurements to ‘Aussie speak.’

THE VERDICT:

Perfection.

Despite my horrible inability to make anything look decadent or professional, the taste of the brownies surpasses all physical defects on my part. It’s actually quite hilarious to compare what mine look like to how pristine and clean-cut Smitten Kitchen’s look like but hey, I’m an amateur, I’ll get better!

The cheesecake layer is creamy and sweet, the taste of it perfectly akin to real cheesecake. I say this because many recipes say cheesecake flavour but it never really tastes like a decadent, moist and cheesy cheesecake like this does.

The brownie is moist and gooey, the perfect way to eat a brownie. Often you find brownies are too hard or crumbly, but this brownie holds perfectly and is like a chewy heaven in your mouth. The only variation I’d do next time is perhaps add more chocolate to the mixture as in my opinion it was not chocolatey enough – but then again, nothing ever is for me.

This recipe is definitely one to try and is a great option for an afternoon treat or after dinner snack with a creamy cappuccino – yum!

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