Cream Cheese Brownies

In the culinary world, Alice Medrich's name has become synonymous with dessert, largely because of the extraordinary things she does with chocolate. She is recognized as a genius in baking and pastry arts, twice winning the James Beard Foundation Award for Cookbook of the Year. Her well-known San Francisco-based chocolate company, Cocolat, was founded in 1976.This brownie recipe comes from her book "Cookies and Brownies”.

If you are expecting for a fluffy type of cake like brownie then you are wrong. The brownie is dense and fudgy and does not have the normal texture of a brownie that one may come across.
Maybe that’s why it is mouthwatering as you bite into the cream cheese and brownie.Both layers are soft to the bite and really rich.It does not use bicarbonate soda or baking powder , so there are as little air as possible when mixing the batter.
The brownie ingredients are mixed in a bowl rather then using mixer that the final result is a nicely compact brownie with a dense and fudgy texture.

As for the cream cheese, make sure it is in room temperature so that you can beat it in a mixer easily and get a creamy texture.


You can eat these squares the same day as you make them , but I would advice refrigerating them for at least 5 hours or overnight as this gives the flavours time to soften and also can be cut easily into squares and served. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the squares stay overnight in the fridge !!!Kidz just didn’t allow it :-)
After 4 hours or so , and that too upon my insistence, did they totally agree to wait .By end of the day ,there was only half leftovers! What can I say then thanks to Alice Medrich for this luvly brownies.

Brownie Layer
½ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
250gm granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
2 large eggs
70gms all purpose flour ( I used wheat flour)
¼ tsp salt

Cream Cheese Layer
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
65gms granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
1 large egg



Preheat oven to 160C or 325F .Have ready a square or rectangle baking pan. Lightly grease it and line with aluminium foil or baking paper across the bottom and up two opposites of the pan.I like to lightly grease so the paper stick to the pan and does not move .Set aside.

Melt butter and chocolate in double boiler method. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla.Add the eggs ,one at a time, beating well using a wooden spoon. Beat until its smooth and glossy or until the batter comes away from the site of the pan. Remove ½ cup of the batter and set aside.Pour the remainder of the brownie batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Place cream cheese in a bowl and beat it until smooth with a hand mixer or beater.Add the sugar ,vanilla and egg and beat until creamy and smooth.Spread the cream cheese filling over the brownie layer. Spoon small dallops of the reserved brownie batter on top of the cream cheese filling. With a wooden skewer , swirl the two batters giving it a marble effect.

Bake for about 25-30 mins or until the brownies start to pull away from all the edges of the pan. Remove from oven and cool the b rownies for at least 2 hours before chilling it in the fridge. To get nice slices better to dip the knife in hot water, wipe with a cloth and cut the brownies each lines. Have a damp cloth nearby to wipe after each cut .


This beautiful recipe is heading its way to

Sunday Snack - Cheese which was started by Hima of SnackORama and at present hosted by MirchMasala
Think Spice-Think Vanilla started by Sunita Bhuvan and at present hosted by Snacksgiving.