Cream Cheese Brownies are a delicious mix of cheesecake and brownies, they're also crazy easy; from cocoa powder, cream cheese, sugar and butter.

I've made some great chocolate desserts you may have tried, including Easy Chocolate Cake,Peanut Butter Brownies and Cookie Dough Brownies, and now I've whipped up a recipe for Cream Cheese Brownies.

Stack of Cream Cheese Brownies

CREAM CHEESE  BROWNIES

You may not immediately think of cream cheese when you think of brownie ingredients, but cream cheese is not just for making cheesecake anymore. This rich, fudgy brownie recipe is sure to be a big hit. The cream cheese makes them creamy and pairs perfectly with the chocolatey goodness, as well as keeping them from drying out in the oven.

PS if you love fun brownies you have to try my Fudge Iced Brownies, they're exactly like the cafeteria brownies we were all nostalgic about as kids, with awesome cocoa icing.

Homemade Cream Cheese Brownies are really easy to make and they keep really well, so you can make them ahead of time and enjoy them later. They are absolutely delicious and make a great holiday snack for your next get together.

When cooking your brownies, a good baking hack to remember is the toothpick test. Once the Cream Cheese Brownies come out of the oven, take an ordinary toothpick and insert it into the middle of the brownies. When you pull it out, check to see if the toothpick has batter on it or not. If it doesn't, it means that the brownies are cooked all the way through and ready to set on a wire rack to cool. If it comes out covered in batter it means that they need to bake a little bit longer.

HOW TO MAKE CREAM CHEESE  BROWNIES

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Butter and cocoa powder the bottom and sides of the baking pan.
  • In a large bowl add the melted butter and sugar.
  • Whisk until sugar is dissolved and the butter mixture has cooled.
  • Add in the vanilla and eggs and whisk until well combined.
  • Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt and add to the large wet mixture.
  • Whisk until just combined and pour all but one cup of the batter into the baking pan.
  • Stir together sour cream, sugar, cream cheese, and 2 tablespoons of flour.
  • Add the cream cheese filling to the pan.
  • Add remaining brownie batter on top in spoonfuls around the pan.
  • Create a marbling effect by swirling the batter with a knife.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Brownies in a pan

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CREAM CHEESE  BROWNIE VARIETIES

  • Chocolate: If you don't want to use unsweetened chocolate for your Cream Cheese Brownies, you can experiment with semisweet chocolate, white chocolate or dark chocolate. Changing the level of chocolate in your cocoa powder can radically change the flavor without changing anything else in the recipe.
  • Toppings and add-ins: You can stir some chocolate chips or pieces of fudge into the batter if you want a chunkier, heartier brownie. Make sure you chop the fudge down into small, bite sized pieces and stir them in thoroughly.
  • Frosting: Cream Cheese Brownies are amazing with a little frosting on top. You should try my recipes for Peanut Butter Frosting, Cream Cheese Frosting and Rich Chocolate Frosting.
  • Ice Cream: Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream is delicious when served next to a piping hot Cream Cheese Brownie fresh from the oven. Plus, your dinner guests will be impressed when you tell them you made both the brownies and ice cream from scratch.

HOW LONG ARE CREAM CHEESE  BROWNIES GOOD?

  • Serve: Cream Cheese Brownies can last about 2 days uncovered at room temperature. If you want to extend the shelf life, wrap them up in parchment paper or aluminum foil and they'll last up to 3 days without going really stale.
  • Store: If you refrigerate your brownies wrapped in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, they can last up to 4 days.
  • Freeze:You can freeze Cream Cheese Brownies for up to 6 months, if you keep them in an airtight container. The uncooked batter can last up to 10 months if it is frozen.

Piece of Cream Cheese Brownie

Brownie Batter

  • 16 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese , room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  • Butter and cocoa powder the bottom and sides of a 9x13" baking pan.

  • In a large bowl whisk together the melted butter and sugar then add in the eggs and vanilla until well combined.

  • Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.

  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking until just combined, then add it to your baking pan, reserving just one cup of batter.

  • Whisk together cream cheese (make sure cream cheese is room temperature), sour cream, sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth.

  • Dot the cream cheese mixture with a spoon onto the brownie batter then dot the remaining brownie batter on top.

  • Swirl the batters together with a knife and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Calories: 251 kcal | Carbohydrates: 31 g | Protein: 4 g | Fat: 13 g | Saturated Fat: 8 g | Cholesterol: 61 mg | Sodium: 251 mg | Potassium: 106 mg | Fiber: 2 g | Sugar: 20 g | Vitamin A: 448 IU | Vitamin C: 1 mg | Calcium: 34 mg | Iron: 1 mg

Keyword: Cream Cheese Brownies

Cream Cheese Brownies

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

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