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Brownie Cheesecake

Welcome back to Chez Chefpo! 
Today, we have a delicious treat that combines two wonderful desserts into one! If you like brownies and cheesecake, you're going to like this too, as the two flavors really balance and complement each other. It also goes well with some fresh fruit and is a good final course of a meal. (In fact, you got a sneak peek at it in our Pasta Salad recipe!)

Brownie Cheesecake


Makes a 9" round pan

Ingredients:

Brownie:
  • 6 ounces dark chocolate
  • 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 75 grams cake flour
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Chocolate chips (optional)
Cheesecake:
  • 8 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 4 ounces plain greek yogurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 50 grams sugar
  • 1/4 cups dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, blueberries) soaked in rum/brandy/Grand Marnier
  • Lemon zest (optional)
In place of the ricotta cheese, you could use another 8 ounces of cream cheese.

Directions:

  1. Make the brownie batter:
    1. Melt the chocolate along with the butter in a bowl. You can use a double boiler or microwave, but be careful to not burn it!
    2. Mix in the sugar and make it smooth.
    3. Slowly add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
    4. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in. Add the salt and chocolate chips and stir, but don't over-mix.
  2. Make the cheesecake batter:
    1. Leave the ricotta and cream cheese to soften a little. Then, put them in a bowl and mix a little.
    2. Again, slowly add the eggs in and mix.
    3. Add the sugar and mix it until smooth. A machine might be handy for this one.
  3. Assembly:
    1. Take a 9" circular pan and pour the brownie batter into the bottom, making it flat.
    2. Add the dried fruit.
    3. Pour the cheesecake batter on top.
  4. Put it in the oven at 325° for 60 to 70 minutes. Once done, you should be able to put a toothpick in it and pull it out cleanly.
  5. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. If you eat it straight out of the oven, it'll seem very loose.
This is one great recipe, but it can actually be multiple! If you want to just make brownies or cheesecake, just use that part of the recipe and scale the ingredients according to however large you want your brownie/cheesecake to be. However, the brownie isn't super sweet, so you could add up to 1/2 cup more of sugar. You can also just use store-brought brownie mix. Also, in place of the dried fruit, you could use some fresh fruit, like cherries (don't forget to take the pits out!) and then add a splash of the rum to achieve the same effect.
We put fresh cherries in this one, so it's a little splotchy but still tasty!

-Chefpo
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