Delectably Divine Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies

Recently I had one of those days where I desperately wanted chocolate while at the same time feeling bored with the recipes I had.  Everything I've made over the past number of weeks has had chocolate chips thrown in, but sometimes a person simply needs pure chocolate with a twist.  Enter the Cream Cheese Brownies.  These delectable morsels will satisfy the deepest chocolate craving while providing perfect proportions of gooey non chocolatey cream cheese goodness.

The best part is that the recipe takes about 30 minutes at most and can be done using only 2 bowls!  (You could very well use only one if you wanted to be able to boast just a little more about them.)  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one.  (Although please do excuse the quality as I'm still playing with setting to find the best for indoor dark light in Seattle...)

I both love and hate non-stick pans and the lack of batter left for you to lick...

Don't they just look divine!?  I'm particularly proud of this recipe as I combined an old favorite, the brownie recipe I'm sure my sisters and I could make in our sleep, and a new, the Cream Cheese Swirl recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Baking Book.

Recipe:
Brownies:
12 oz (2 C) chocolate chips
1/2 C butter, cut into pieces
3 eggs
1 1/4 C flour
1 C sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chopped nuts
Cream Cheese:
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 C sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla

• Preheat the oven to 350
• Melt 1 C of chocolate chips and butter in a large pan over low heat, stir until smooth
• Remove from heat
• Add eggs and stir well
• Add flour, sugar, baking soda, vanilla, and stir well
• Stir in the remaining morsels and nuts
• Spread into a greased 13x9 pan
• In a separate bowl (or the same if you so desire) whisk together cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined
• Drop over brownie batter
• Run a knife through to create the swirl
• Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Tips & Tricks:

• I was nervous about creating too much swirl and as you can see from the pictures my cream cheese didn't go very far into the brownies.  Don't be afraid to swirl around more than you think you should!
• These brownies will naturally cook to be fairly gooey in the middle, while they are good fresh out of the oven, I have found that leaving them to sit overnight (covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil of course) makes for an easier job of cutting them and having each piece stay together.  

Thanks for reading and happy baking!