Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:

brownie layer:
2 eggs, at room temperature
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt



cheesecake layer:
1 egg, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour or using baking spray with flour one 8x8 inch pan. In a medium pot, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula as needed. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, egg, sugar, flour and vanilla until fluffy. Carefully pour over brown layer. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack then slice and serve. The cooler the brownie, the easier it will be to cut.

My thoughts:

I have been wanting to make cheesecake brownies for what seems like years but could never find the perfect recipe. I've been thinking about making them a lot lately and decided to finally come up with my own recipe. Tonight is the Gilmore Girls premiere which I have been looking forward to all summer, even though I was sorely disappointed in Season 6. What better way to usher it in then with cheesecake brownies? I wanted a recipe that created 2 distinct levels of cheesecake and brownie (no swirling), was very chocolate-y without overpowering the cream cheese and which created a minimum of dishes. These brownies are darn near perfect. They are very chocolate-y while still maintaining the tang of cream cheese. Not to mention that by making the brownies in one pot, it minimized the dishes to my Kitchenaid, a pot, a measuring cup and a spoon. Rory and Lorelei would be proud.