David Lebovitz' Cheesecake Brownies

So, just when I thought I had tried all the fabulous brownie variations, this one came along and totally caught me by surprise. I thought I had tried or thought of all the worthy brownie swirls- the favorites as of late being Dulce de Leche and peanut butter. This one is right up there with the others, though, and a great brownie base recipe from scratch which are hard to find. I usually think that making brownies from scratch is a waste of time, seing as the mixes are so good. If it ain't broke, don't make it more complicated, right? Well this one is straightforward and really yummy. I am sure that I will revisit this in some other variations in the near future. I have been brining the Dulce de Leche brownies into work so much that last Friday on the tour of our new building, a couple people had this comment about the oven in our much improved kitchen space: "Hey, maybe we can put Meagan's desk in here so she has easy access to bake us things!" Now that would be trouble!! Hope you had a great weekend. This recipe goes quickly, so don't be daunted to make it on a weeknight! :)

Start by making the cheesecake topping. Soften 8 ounces of cream cheese (I used the reduced fat variety called neufchatel) and add 1 egg yolk at room temperature, a splash of vanilla and 5 tablespoons of sugar.
Blend until mixed. Set aside while you make the brownie batter. Chop 4 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (I used 3 semisweet baking squares and one unsweeted square) and add 6 tablespoons of butter, cut into pieces. Melt over low heat, stirring continuously with a silicon spatula.
As the chocolate and the butter melt, they will mix together. Make sure all chunks are fully melted before removing from the heat.
Just like this:
In the same pan, add the sugar and stir to incorporate. Then add the eggs, at room temperature. If you are anxious to make these and don't want to have to wait for your eggs to warm up, place them in a bowl of warm-ish tap water for a few minutes. They should be perfect after a little while. You don't want them to be cold, because as you add them to the warm ingredients, you don't want to cook the eggs. I am pretty sure that scrambled eggs are probably not one of the brownie add ins we want to try!

Bake at 350 degrees in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. Enjoy, another great brownie idea!

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/10/cheesecake_brownies.html