New York Cheesecake Brownies

And so to this month’s Alphabakes challenge using the letter N …I was all set to make a New York Cheesecake but wanted to put a twist on it somehow. After a bit of googling I came across Rachel Allen’s Cheesecake Brownies – perfect! I like how this recipe combines two classic US desserts; to give the traditional NY Cheesecake more prominence in my brownies, I added some broken digestive biscuits to the mix.

My husband took them to work and they went down a storm, with people saying they were the best brownies they’d ever had! The swirls of tangy, creamy cheesecake perfectly compliment the rich chocolate brownie. Make them, you won’t be disappointed! (Original recipe can be found here)

This month’s Alphabakes Challenge is hosted by The More Than Occasional Baker – take a look and join in!

New York Cheesecake Brownies
Makes 16 brownies

100 g  butter (cut into cubes)
100 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
125 g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
3 eggs, beaten
75 g self-raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
100 g dark chocolate chips
Approx 6 digestive biscuits, broken into small pieces

For the cheesecake
200 g full fat cream cheese
2 egg yolks
75 g (3oz) caster sugar

– Preheat the oven to 180°C (approx 165C for my fan oven). Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin.

– Place the butter and chocolate pieces in a saucepan and melt over a low heat. Stir just until smooth, then remove from the heat and beat in the sugar and salt, followed by the eggs. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, add the chocolate chips and digestive biscuits and stir together.

– Tip the batter into the prepared tin and spread out using a spatula. In a clean bowl, beat all the ingredients for the cheesecake mixture together until smooth. Dot heaped teaspoonfuls of this mixture across the top of the brownie batter in the tin, then use a skewer or knife to swirl the two mixtures together, right across the tin and up to the edges.

– Bake for approximately 30–35 minutes or until the middle of the cake still wobbles slightly when you gently shake the tin – a skewer inserted into the centre should come out with a little moisture on it.

– Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack and either allow to cool completely in the tin before removing and cutting into squares  or carefully remove it while slightly warm, cut into squares and serve with vanilla ice cream – heaven!