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These Cheesecake Brownies combine two of my favorite desserts in one: rich, fudgy homemade brownies and a creamy cheesecake layer, both made completely from scratch. The contrast between the dense chocolate brownie and smooth cheesecake is exactly what makes these bars so good.
Dessert mashups are one of my favorite things to make (I wrote a whole cookbook on them!) and brownies plus cheesecake is a combination that just works. I’ve made versions of these cream cheese brownies more times than I can count, and I always come back to that same balance of deep chocolate flavor with a tangy, creamy cheesecake layer.
I’m firmly on team fudgy brownie, so the brownie bottom is dense and rich rather than cakey. Add the cheesecake on top and you get a dessert bar that feels a little more special than a regular brownie without being difficult to make.
Ingredients in Cheesecake Brownies
- Unsweetened baking chocolate from the baking aisle, coarsely chopped
- Unsalted butter can be substituted with salted, but reduce salt in the recipe to 1/4 teaspoon.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: Use natural unsweetened cocoa or Dutch process.
- Be sure to buy large eggs. Eggs give the brownies structure and keep them nice and gooey.
- Cream cheese: Only use full-fat block cream cheese and make sure it’s at room temperature.
- Sour cream, at room temperature. Full fat or low fat, but not fat free.
Dorothy’s Cream Cheese Brownie Recipe Tips
- To make the perfect cheesecake brownie bars, it’s extremely important that you have the sour cream, cream cheese, and eggs at room temperature. This helps there not be any lumps in the creamy mixture.
- I always bake my recipes with foil lining the pan, but you can also line the pan with parchment paper.
Cheesecake Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
Brownie Layer:
- 4 ounces (113g) unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
- ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cups (350g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (10g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (124g) all-purpose flour
Cheesecake Layer:
- 16 ounces (452g) cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup (123g) sour cream, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch square pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Make the brownies
- Place chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high power in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth (about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave).
- Stir sugar and cocoa into chocolate and butter mixture using a spatula or wooden spoon. Stir in 3 eggs and vanilla, then stir in salt. Mixture will be grainy looking but smooth. Stir in flour carefully.
- Spread brownies in prepared pan and set aside.
Make the cheesecake
- Beat cream cheese with sour cream until smooth, then beat in 2 eggs, sugar and vanilla.
- Pour mixture over the top of the brownies in pan. Use a butter knife or a long skewer to swirl the brownies.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until slightly puffed and no longer glossy (will be light golden around the edges of the foil). Cool completely at room temperature then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing and serving.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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How to make Cheesecake Brownies
1. Make sure the cheesecake mixture is smooth.
2. The brownie mixture will be thick and dark and goes into the pan first.
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3. The cheesecake mixture will spread smoothly over the top.
4. A butter knife is a good way to lightly swirl the brownies into the cheesecake without completely mixing them.
Brownie Bottom Cheesecake FAQ
The swirled look in brownies has to be done before baking them. Just use a butter knife and place it into the two layers of mixtures. Slightly swirl it around.
If you don’t set out certain ingredients (mentioned in the recipe card) at room temperature, it will cause the texture of the cheesecake to be lumpy.
To make sure that the brownies are done baking, look at the top of the brownies. The top should no longer be shiny looking, and the edges should be pulled away from the sides of the pan.
Baking and/or eating something with cocoa gives me a headache. I have a recipe for a Blondie Brownie. Would there be a way to substitute this as the brownie part? The recipe sounds good…except for the cocoa for me.
Yes you can try that on the bottom but without testing I cannot say for sure if it will work.
I let mine cook for 52 minutes which might have been a little too long for my oven because the top was completely a golden brown (whoops 😅). Hopefully it still turns out tasty!
Instructions for amount of eggs in the brownie & cream cheese layers don’t match in the ingredients when mixing each layer (3 for brownie/2 for cream cheese but listed opposite in description)
What is the correct amounts? Excited to make these!
Fixed sorry about that thanks for catching it!
Very unclear on how many of the 5 eggs go with which part!! And vanilla. So stressful trying to guess when you aren’t baking inclined.
It tells you in the ingredients and directions.
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