Marble Cheesecake Brownies

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Marble Cheesecake Brownies.
Could anything sound more delicious? NO.

My mom has been making me these brownies for as long as I can remember and when it came time for me to leave home, complete with super cute recipe box, the first recipe I added to my collection was this one. Now my recipe for you includes pictures! YAY!

Start with all the ingredients. My baking recipes always include a glass of wine... not pictured so you can't judge the giant wine glass I use. :)

Let the cream cheese soften up and then combine it with the sugar until well blended and then mix in one egg. I don't have the patience to let the cream cheese truly soften, so it's always a struggle for me to mix it all together. Mom would let her cream cheese soften, and to be honest, I can't taste any difference. She'd be disappointed to hear that. (It also helps if you have mixing bowls. We don't. Yet. They're going to the top of the shopping list.)

When it's all mixed together, it should have the consistency somewhere between yogurt and cottage cheese, depending on how well you mixed it and how soft the cream cheese was. Like I said before, it doesn't make much difference in the final taste. The yogurt consistency would be more correct, but I just can't wait for the cheese to soften.

In another mixing bowl... or plastic leftover container... combine all the ingredients for your favorite brownies. I would not suggest using any of the super fudgy brownies, or super dark brownies. The more cake-like, the better in my opinion. But if you really love dark, fudgy brownies, by all means, go for it.

Pour the brownies into an 8x8 pan and smooth out. Start dropping dollops of the cream cheese mixture into the brownies. How much or how little you use is up to you. I never use up all my cream cheese, so don't use that as a gauge. Try to spread out the dollops evenly, but again, truly, it doesn't matter.

Next comes the fun part: the marbling. Take a knife and starting from one corner zig-zag the whole way across the brownie pan. Make sure the knife goes all the way through the brownies, down to the bottom of the pan, to get the cream cheese mixture as far down as it'll go. Make it as marbley, or not-marbley as you'd like. It usually takes two or three zig-zags, in each direction, to get the cream cheese fully distributed though.

Then COVER with chocolate chips and bake! (Mom used regular-sized chips, I use mini. Use whatever you like.) Bake according to the directions on the brownie box, but when the cream cheese mixture starts to turn light brown, you know you've reached cheesecake brownie perfection.

Can't you see the perfection? :)

So, so, so delicious. Eating one as I type this. Don't judge me.

Marble Cheesecake Brownies

1 8oz. pkg of cream cheese, softened

1/3c. sugar

1 egg

1 boxed brownie mix AND ingredients required for brownies

chocolate chips to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Combine softened cream cheese and sugar until well blended then mix in one egg.

3. In another bowl, combine all ingredients for brownies and mix well.

4. Pour brownie batter into an 8x8 pan.

5. Spoon cream cheese mixture over the batter.

6. Cut through batter with knife several times for marble effect.

7. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

8. Bake according to directions on brownie box.

9. Let cool, cut and enjoy.