What’s Baking: Mint Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

That’s right, you read that right. Mint Chocolate Chip, Cheesecake, and Brownie all in one title. Maybe I should have just written Heaven, instead. This month for What’s Baking, hosted by Sandra of  She Cooks and Bakes, the theme was Back to School, and Sandra challenged us all to make a favorite childhood dessert, but to put a modern twist on it.

At first I was like, Hmm…I don’t really have one favorite dessert that I can recall being a childhood favorite. I just sort of love them all. But then I was taken back to a specific moment when I was about 4 years old…a moment that I actually think of now and then…in a shopping center (doctor’s office seems to ring a bell) on a summer day and we stopped to get an ice cream cone. My flavor of choice (still, to this very day) was Mint Chocolate Chip. I don’t remember why we got the ice cream or what we were doing that day, but I can see the picture in my head clear as day. I’ve loved that ice cream flavor for as far back as I have memories, so it seemed only right that my selection for this challenge be in tribute to that very dessert.

 

So, I went out in search of a recipe that would modernize my cherished ice cream. And I found this. Holy crap. Not only is it mint chocolate, but it incorporates my other much loved dessert…cheesecake!! It was meant to be y’all. It just was. Now J would say that I have worked too hard the past 6 months to eat such things, but I would say to him…I love you honey and I appreciate you looking out for my good health but I have worked so hard the past 6 months so I can eat such things. On occasion. 🙂 Then I take the rest to work to save myself from devouring every last crumb. Because I easily could. Rich, fudgy chocolate brownies, swirled with minty cheesecake filling. Yep, I could die a happy woman stuffed full of these babies. But I practice self-control instead. Begrudgingly, of course. I want to eat them all!!

Instead I share them with you and hope to live vicariously through your eating adventures as well. Tell me how you love them, ‘k??

Ingredients

For the brownies

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
• 8 oz coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate (I used 1 Bakers Baking Bar)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the mint cheesecake 

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp extract*
• 2 drops green food coloring*
• 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray and 11 x 7 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Set out 8 ounces of cream cheese for the cheesecake layer and allow to soften as you prepare the brownies.
3. Melt the butter and semi-sweet chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes. If you don’t have 15 minutes to spare, you can set it in the fridge for quicker cooling.
4. Stir sugar into cooled chocolate/butter mixture until fully combined. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Gently fold in the flour and salt and then pour all but 1/4 cup of the batter into prepared pan.
5. To make the mint cheesecake, place the softened cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer (or other bowl if you will be using a hand mixer). Add 1/4 cup of sugar, egg yolk, mint extract and food coloring and mix on medium speed until smooth and fully combined, about 1 minute. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture on top of the prepared brownie batter and then cover with the reserved 1/4 cup of brownie batter.
6. Take a butter knife and “drag” it through the layers (side-to-side, or however you like) to create a swirl pattern. Top with additional chocolate chips, if desired.
7. Bake brownies for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean. Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting into squares.