Cheesecake Brownie

Updated Oct 28, 2013 

I promised my friends from work I would bring brownies to work the following week. Brownies are pretty easy to make and this is one sinful chocolaty treat that most (not-too health-conscious) people would say yes to!

I sort of knew what kind of brownie I wanted to make; Cheesecake (Cheese) Brownie. I’ve tried a recipe by Martha Stewart once but I was in the mood to try other recipe. It was when I stumbled upon David Lebovitz’s Cheesecake Brownie that I knew I just had to try out this version! I’ve tried a few of his recipes and have no regrets trying them. They were all delectable!

After work (and dinner), I gathered the ingredients needed and started baking. I wasn’t going to wash my electrical appliances (i.e. mixer) and used a traditional whisk and my muscles to do the work of blending the ingredients into a smooth consistency!

Here’s the chocolaty sinful Cheesecake Brownie by David Lebovitz. And like usual, I like to tweak things a little; this time I sprinkled a handful of chocolate chips to the batter prior to baking. The result was a fudgy like brownie with bits of chocolate chip and random sections of cheesecake! Yums!

CHEESECAKE BROWNIE RECIPE

Ingredients:
Part A (Chocolate Batter)

• 6 Tbsp Unsalted, Cut Into Pieces
• 4 Oz Bittersweet / Semisweet Chocolate, Chopped
• 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs, At Room Temperature
• 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1/8 Tspn salt
• 1 Tspn Vanilla Extract
• 1/2  Cup Chocolate Chips

Part B (Cheesecake Batter)

• 8 Oz (1 Block) Cream Cheese, At Room Temperature
• 1 Large Egg Yolk
• 5 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 1/8 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:
Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, making sure it goes up all four sides. Use two sheets if necessary. Mist with non-stick spray or grease lightly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in the 2/3 cup sugar, then the eggs. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then the vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, the yolk, 5 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Distribute the cream cheese mixture in eight dollops across the top of the brownie mixture, then take a dull knife or spatula and swirl the cream cheese mixture with the chocolate batter.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the batter in the center of the pan feels just set. Let cool, then lift out the foil and peel it away. Cut the brownies into squares.


June’s Comments: I used salted butter instead of unsalted butter; therefore I skipped the salt in the batter. I used bittersweet chocolate (chips) throughout the recipe as I think bittersweet chocolate gives a richer chocolaty taste. Feel free to use semisweet ones.

I also sprinkled about 1/2 cups of chocolate chip after I swirled the cream cheese mixture to add more chocolaty goodness to the brownie. =). 

Oct 28, 2013 - I recently made another batch of this brownie and decided to double the chocolate batter part, but kept the cheesecake part. I like this "version" as well. 

Mobile Blogging..

…..and more aboard the mighty MegaBus! The husband and I are on the bus from Boston to New York for a one day trip. The ultimate purpose of our trip to the big apple is to renew our passports. After weighing in the pros and cons of driving ourselves vs taking the bus; we decided to take the bus since it would be more stress free! With a price of about $50 roundtrip for 2 and free WiFi on the bus, we have no reason to say NO! Plus, we probably save a bunch of money finding parking too! I am looking forward to stuffing my face silly in NYC and of course getting our passports renewed asap!

Revisited: Rostip Thai Restaurant @ Dracut, MA

Remember in my previous post, I was boasting about the yummy Thai food @ Rostip? Well, we went back there again probably about a week or so after I wrote about it. This time, we ordered lunch take out to see how the portions were.

Food was again very affordable and the portion was quite good for lunch (especially for the price we paid); with 3 entrees costing us about $21. Here’s what we ordered:

1) Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodle) – Wide flat noodles stir fried with carrots, string beans, bell peppers, basil leaves, broccoli and chicken in a hot chili basil sauce @ $5.95 (Bottom). The portions was surely huge for a $6 noodle entree. While it might be slightly on the greasy side, I love it. The husband said they might have use a little too much of oyster sauce; it tasted a little salty to him. 2) Panang Curry (Shrimp) – A thick red spicy curry with coconut milk, green peas, bell peppers, basil leaves and finished with a touched of shredded lime leaves. Garnished with steam vegetables  @ $6.50 (Bottom Left). The lunch entree came in a nice container with 2 compartments, one for rice and another for curry. This curry was a little sweeter than the green curry we ordered, but still yummilicious!

3) Green Curry (Duck) – Green  chili curry with coconut milk, string beans, bamboo, peas, basil leaves and bell peppers @ $6.95 (Bottom Right). This was the second time that we’ve ordered this dish and still loving it!! This was recommended by the friend who introduced us to Rostip. The curry was so aromatic and flavorful, the duck (fried or roasted) was just perfect.

Rostip is certainly high in our list when we are craving for Thai food. We’ve recently tried another Thai place nearer to our place and totally did not like it. I will blog about the misadventure of that one day where Rostip and 2 other Thai places were closed! And we just had to get Thai food after building up steam talking about Rostip Duck Green Curry!!!

Salmon & Spinach Quiche

Quiche for my French themed dinner! It was easier than expected especially when I use store bought crust. Here’s an easy recipe for either breakfast, lunch or dinner (like what I did!)! I did not fuss with the crust for my version of quiche and just used a store bought pie crust for it. I thought it turned out pretty well. The quiche although has cream and eggs was kinda light.

SALMON & SPINACH QUICHE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Pillsbury Pie Crust, Defrosted
• 6-7 Oz Smoked Salmon, Chopped
• 1 – 10 oz Packaged Frozen Spinach, Defrosted and Drained
• 3/4 Cup Cream
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1/2 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. Melt butter in a pan, add garlic and onion. Sauté until garlic is lightly brown and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and cream. Add chopped smoked salmon, spinach (with all juice squeezed out), onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Line a 9 inch tart pan with the pie crust, trimming excess crust. Lightly pierce the crust with a fork, then pour in egg mixture.

Bake quiche for 30-40 minutes or until the center is set. Serve either warm or even at room temperature! Enjoy!

Psst…Mom..you gotta try this recipe! =)

My Birthday Meal

The husband had the day off and he offered to cook us a 4 course Chinese Meal for my birthday, a day early! I couldn’t say no when the man wants to cook. Plus, I had to work so I left all the cooking (and grocery shopping) to him!

I’m super duper proud of him and his cooking skills. The husband got inspired after he browsed my Saveur magazine and they had a section on Chinese stir-fry. He made 4 delicious dishes from that publication! And I did not even lift a finger. I let him have the kitchen to himself; one of the few times I actually stayed out of my territory without hovering over his shoulder! I should let him cook more often and I can just sit back, relax and wait to eat!!

Here’s what the husband made for us:

1) Tomato Egg Stir Fry (Bottom Left) : This was not bad, it reminded me of a dish I made a while back. This one was not bad, although we thought it could use a little more seasoning.

2)  Pork (Beef) & Leek Stir Fry (Bottom Right):  The recipe called for pork, the husband accidentally used beef instead. This dish was pretty good!

3) Bok Choy & Mushroom Stir Fry (Bottom Left) : This dish was very different from how I usually cook my bok choy. This was a dry version; no sauce, no gravy….yet not bad at all! It was an interesting change!

4) Braised Pork Belly (Bottom Right): This was by far the BEST dish of the night and one of the best pork dish I’ve had. We loved it so much, we cooked it again a few days later….doubling the portion! That explains the extra layer of fat I have around my waist! All the pork belly goodness went to my waist!

 

All these recipes are extracted from the Saveur magazine. Perhaps, I will post the recipe in another blog entry later! =) I’m getting so hungry just thinking about that yummy in my tummy pork belly!!

Thanks, darling for a great home-cooked Birthday Meal!