One day shy of two months since I last posted to this site… time just gets away from you. Part of the problem is that I haven’t been cooking, and when I have been cooking, I’ve been making things that are already on this site! I have actually cooked one or two things now that I need to post about though, so maybe I should do that. Get a current post on the front page, and all that.

I’m going to start with these Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies. Seriously, make these right now. They. Are. Awesome. I’ve actually made them twice now. I made them for my family when we got together for dinner on Sunday afternoon, and we practically licked the pan clean. So I had to make them again in order to take to work. These brownies are easy to make, and insanely delicious. Just about everyone took a bite, and then said, “Oh my god…” I found these at Smitten Kitchen

Let’s make them.

Ingredients: Flour, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, unsalted butter, salt, cream cheese, vanilla extract, eggs.

Chop up 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate. I chose to melt mine over the stove on low heat.

Add 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Stir frequently over low heat, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined.

I moved my chocolate/butter mixture into a separate large bowl.

Add one cup of sugar.

Two large eggs.

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Stir to combine.

At this point, please pretend like there is a picture of me adding in 2/3 cup of flour and stirring until it’s combined. Please and thank you. I do not know where this picture disappeared to.

Grease an 8X8 inch pan.

Spread the brownie batter in the pan.

Now it’s time to make the cheesecake batter. Put 8 ounces of very softened cream cheese into a separate bowl.

Add 1/3 cup of sugar.

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all the cheesecake ingredients. The directions actually say to whisk it together, but I don’t think that’s actually physically possible, so I got out the handmixer.

Drop cheesecake batter onto the brownie batter

Swirl cheesecake into the brownie batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until set, about 35 minutes. And just try and let them cool a little bit before you cut into them and enjoy! This recipe is definitely in my file to make over, and over, and over again.

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies
Gourmet, 2007 via Smitten Kitchen

Brownie batter
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy 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.

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

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

This cheesecake is fantastic. I could stop right there and just move on, cause really, nothing else needs to be said about it. When I made this, 5 different people had some. There were 5 different moans of pleasure, and 5 sets of eyeballs rolled back into heads. Yes, it’s good. And it was so, so easy. I found the recipe in my Simple and Delicious Magazine, and it totally paid for the entire price of the subscription. But that’s just my opinion (and the opinions of the 5 people I gave this to).

You’ll need: 2 8oz. packages of cream cheese, 1 12 oz. jar of maraschino cherries, mini chocolate chips, 2 eggs, sugar, and a chocolate pie crust.

First, drain your jar of cherries, reserving 2 teaspoons of the juice.

Quarter the cherries, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, put the two packages of softened cream cheese.

Pour in 1/2 cup of sugar.

Add two teaspoons of the cherry juice you reserved in the first step. I may or may not have sneaked a teeny bit extra.

Go ahead and beat those three ingredients together.

Next, add two eggs

and beat them in until just combined.

Add in your quartered cherries

and 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips.

Stir them in.

Then you need a chocolate pie crust. I suppose you could make your own, but why? (Oooh, did you hear that? It’s the sound of the foodie community screeching to a halt.)

Pour the cheesecake mixture into the chocolate crust. It will be very full!

Finally, bake it at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack.

And I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of a slice of the cheesecake. I must have been too busy shoving it in my face. If you can, make it a day ahead of time, so the cheesecake has enough time to rest. This was REALLY good, but since I only made a few hours in advance, I think it could have been much better. But it was my very first cheesecake that didn’t come out of a box stamped Jello, so live and learn!

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake
Simple and Delicious magazine

1 jar (12 oz) maraschino cherries
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 chocolate cookie crust (9 inches)

Drain maraschino cherries, reserving 2 teaspoons juice. Cut cherries into quarters, set aside. In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and reserved cherry juice. Add eggs; beat until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and reserved cherries.
Pour into crust, crust will be full. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack.