Cheesecake Brownies

Talk about baking on a scorching day. 97 degrees.. Really, southern California?! We skipped spring and jumped right into summer. Don't get me wrong, I love southern California weather... just not when I'm at my apartment with no AC and the sun beams down through our window all day. Total bust. While on my way back to my little sauna of an apartment today, I was stuck in horrible Westwood/LA traffic (isn't LA the worst?!?) and watched beautiful baller cars pass me by. Then I got to thinking... what are my top 3 dream cars? All from different price ranges? After long deliberation, I compiled my list:

1.) Price Range $25,000-$35,000: Mazda RX-8; I've loved this car for basically as long as I can remember.. since about 9th grade when it made its first debut.
2.) Price Range $35,000-$45,000: Audi TT Roadster; no words needed.
3.) Price Range $45,000+: Nissan GTR; alright so maybe that's a little more than 45K.. but hey, we can all dream, right?

What's your list of top 3 cars that you long for?

Alright enough dreaming & wishing and back to reality.. When I make brownies, I always use my go-to recipe. I've used this one for about a year now and haven't bothered finding a new one. Why change something that's perfect? I use the same brownie base for all my brownies, and tweak it as necessary. Sometimes I add nuts, sometimes I add some mint extract and Andes chunks, sometimes I add chocolate chips, and sometimes I swirl it with a cheesecake batter. This time, I baked it in a glass 8"x8" pan because I wanted my brownies to be fudge-like rather than crispy. When baking in a glass pan, you have to let them bake for about ten minutes longer, depending on your oven.

The brownie recipe that I used can be found at my previous post HERE, but I'll repost it here with the modifications for cheesecake brownies.

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup AP flour
• ½ cup cocoa
• ½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 8"x8" pan. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Once melted remove from heat and add sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Blend together. In separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, and salt. Add dry mixture to the wet and mix well. Pour into greased pan.

For the cheesecake swirl:

• 8 oz (1 package) cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/4 cup sugar (you can use 1/3 cup if you want it sweeter)
  
• 1 egg

Beat the cream cheese and sugar mixture together. Mix in the egg until creamy. Drop by dollups on top of the brownie batter and then swirl using a knife. Bake for 50-60 minutes (mine took about 65 minutes before being completely done).