Spiced Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies Recipe
While the name of these brownies is a mouthful, nothing about the taste of these brownies is unpleasant. I guess you could say I went on a "baking binge" on Monday (it was fall break and I needed a study break) and I had been wanting to try these brownies for quite sometime. I did have some difficulty getting the brownie batter to "swirl" into the pumpkin cheesecake batter; the brownie batter was much thicker in comparison to the pumpkin batter. Also, the center of the brownies did not firm up in 40 minutes - so when making these I would allot more cooking time.
When I brought these over to my neighbors house (along with cookies and pumpkin seeds), I'm pretty sure the brownies were inhaled in less than 5 minutes. Someone at work even asked me "Why have you never made these before??" So, I dub these a success!
Spiced Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Brownie Batter Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- Cheesecake Batter Ingredients:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp flour
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree (I used freshly made pumpkin puree - it's a much different texture than puree out of a can)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 tsp each ground ginger and ground cloves (I substituted a dash of allspice for cloves)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8" square metal baking pan.
Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. In separate bowl, beat together cheesecake batter ingredients.
Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan, and spoon cheesecake batter over. Dollop remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. Swirl the batters together by running a butter knife back and forth through the pan.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set (I had a difficult time getting the center to set - I set my timer in 5 minute increments, after the 40 minutes were up, until I noticed that the center was firm… it was maybe more like… 55 minutes?). Cool completely on wire rack and chill before cutting and serving.