Week15: Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

Brownies were never my favorite growing up, but I think that was because most people just used mixes and overbaked them. The one brownie recipe I enjoyed was where peanut butter cups were placed on top of the freshly baked brownies and allowed to melt (this is also possible with peppermint patties).  I wanted to do something similar to this, but more advanced flavor. So instead of peanut butter cups, I put peanut butter cheesecake batter on top!  Gooey chocolaty bottom layer, smooth peanut butter creamy layer on top, with some marbling in the middle. 

Start with butter (duh) and sugar.

I melt the butter in a double broiler so it doesn't burn or get to hot for the eggs that come next, and mix the sugar and butter together.

Eggs are added.

As well as flour and cocoa powder (this is where the brownies get their flavor, so I use Cadbury's)

Mix the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder in with the egg/butter/sugar mixture.

The final brownie batter. It's very important to mix it slowly so no air is incorporated. The texture is halfway between a fudge and a cake, and too much air will cause it to be overly cake like.

Now the cheesecake batter. Eggs, cream cheese, and sugar.

Mmmmm, peanut butter!

Here is the peanut butter sitting in the cheesecake batter before mixing.

Now you can see the texture after incorporating. Delicious! It has a bit of salt and vanilla extract added for flavor.

Brownie batter goes in first.

Peanut butter cheesecake batter comes next.

Marble the two with a knife if you want distinct layers, or the butt of a spoon (moving through front-ways, not sideways like you are cutting) if you want the marble to be very mixed.

Bake

Allow to cool (or not) and it's delicious! This is like a grownup peanut butter cup, the peanut butter is smooth and nutty with just the right amount of salt, and the chocolate is gooey and gives it a firmer texture.

Here you can see the layers. This one wasn't marbled too much, but I intend to do more marbling with the actual deliveries for a nicer look and texture mixing.