This recipe was a bit fussier than the traditional brownie recipe, which is hardly surprising considering that what we’re making is effectively two desserts — a brownie and a cheesecake — which are baked together in one pan, but are supposed to retain at least some of their distinctness. That means dirtying a lot of bowls (I ended up using four — one for the chocolate and butter, one for the dry team, one for the cream-cheese mixture, and one for the wet ingredients). I think it turned out pretty good:

I didn’t do as good a job of swirling the cheesecake into the brownie batter as shown in the printed recipe. Also, the recipe calls for 2″x2″ brownies, which is ridiculous; an 8×8 pan makes nine brownies, no more. Here’s the center piece:

Of course, that does mean that as I made them, they’re a bit calorie-heavy. I see no reason you couldn’t make this recipe in a 9×9 pan instead, and then it wouldn’t be ridiculous to get 16 (somewhat thinner) brownies. But doubling the recipe and baking in a 9×13 pan (with appropriate adjustment to the cooking time) would seem quite practical as well, if you’re not in the position that I was of trying to get rid of leftovers! (I think commercial bakers tend to make brownies in half-sheet or even full-sheet pans, which are just too shallow for proper brownie construction, in my humble opinion.)

Nutrition

Multiply everything by 9/16 (approximately 0.56) for the 2×2 brownies specified in the recipe (yield 16). Either way, a special treat, not an every-day dessert. I’ll be freezing some of these, or giving them away to colleagues.