Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

Hello loves!

I know, I know. This totally does not go with the whole weight loss thing that I was talking about in the last blog post. Well, I made these before Chris finally sprung the whole idea that he wanted to start then! Bah. Men gotta love them!

Anyways, My Grandmother gave me this recipe book as part of a wedding present and I couldn't wait to dig into it! The book is called Quick fixes with mixes by Lia Wilson. I was looking for a recipe to use the extra cream cheese that we had from the wedding and boy o boy, there are so many! But this one I just HAD to make. Maybe it was my period (TMI? LOL) wanting me to make it, but we ran out and got the only ingredient that we didn't have :P

Needless to say, these are now going to be a treat! They are really easy to make, considering there is a cheesecake aspect to make but its super easy I promise! Now these have an option to make a chocolate frosting with it, but I omitted that part, because it would have been WAY too much with it in my opinion. I will add the recipe to that at the bottom just in case you want to make it :)  I will also add what I changed/did at the bottom! Anything that is in Italic are notes from myself.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) devil's food cake mix (with of without pudding)(yes you are using a boxed cake mix, but you can't even tell!)
• 1/2 cup Butter or margarine (I used margarine because that is what I had left over)
• 3 eggs, divided (see the directions)
• 2 (8 Ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup Sugar

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven too 325°F  (162°C). In large bowl, combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg; blend well. Press mixture into bottom of greased 9" x 13" baking pan. (see below for what I did. Also, the mixture is going to be EXTREMELY thick, you will basically be able to use your hands. Spray them with a little baking spray to press it down)
2. In medium bowl, combine remaining eggs, cream cheese and sugar. Beat until mixture is smooth and blended.
3. Pour mixture over cake mix and bake for 40 to 45 minutes (until edges are very lightly browned). Let cool and ice with Chocolate Frosting.  (see below)

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine chocolate chips and sour cream. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool until just warm to the touch.

As you can tell, I made cupcakes. This is where the changes come into place! It has nothing to do with the recipe, just more of baking and how to proportion it to each cupcake.

If you are using a regular sized cup cake tin (yes there are different sizes IE: mini, jumbo etc..)

I used a 1 ounce disher for the brownie mixture, but you can use less. You just have to remember not to fill it too much because it IS a cake so it will rise. Some of mine puffed over the top because I either added too much brownie or too much cheesecake. I would suggest maybe using a little more than half of the disher, or you could always measure it to your liking. This is just what I did.

For dishing the cheesecake, I used between 1-2 tablespoons per cupcake wrapper. Once again, it depends on how much of the brownie mixture you put in the bottom.

As for time, I only put them in for 20-25 minutes. No more than that, or the cake could start to dry out. I felt that this was a reasonable amount of time, considering it was not going to be a HUGE batch in cake form. Since these are smaller, you do not need to put them in for longer than 25 minutes. I put a batch in for 30 minutes and had to take it out at 23 minutes because they started to brown. I don't think that you NEED to let these brown, they are incredible without the browning. It would be just for mere color.

In cupcake form, I made around 24 cupcakes. but that could change depending on how much brownie mixture you have left because I had more cheesecake then brownie!

As you can tell, the cake in the middle did not rise much, which is good because I thin kit is a nice touch that the cheesecake sank into the middle instead of rising out. That way you get a little extra in each bite!

Now as for mixing other flavors into the cheesecake, I personally did not do it this time around because it was my first time making these. I definitely think that you could add a flavoring into the cheesecake mixture. Not into the brownie mixture because you need it to be thick, so in my opinion it would be better to flavor the cheesecake portion. 

I hope you all try these out! Let them know what you think of them! I think they are absolutely fantastic!  I have to send them to work with Chris or I will eat them all and it will not go well with my upcoming diet! :P Good thing I have something to do with all of the baking I plan on doing this year! Sending it with Dad to Busch Gardens (he works there) and with Chris to work! Hahah

I hope you all are having a lovely day! <3 p="p">