Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale.
On this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, it has dawned on me, in about a minute now, that
I have not made a brownie recipe in a while, and I don't know about you but I find that
to be unacceptable!
Who am I?
Where have I been?
What's been happening?
I'm over the cauliflower, I'm over the low carb, I want sugar, and I want chocolate and
I want it in brownie form.
But in particular, I want a cookies and cream cheesecake brownie that's going to rock my
world, and yours too.
So that's what we're going to make today, it's easy and simple, obviously, I feel like
that's something that I shouldn't have to say anymore because you know that if it's
not easy or simple, I ain't doing it.
So, let's get started, like I said a cookies and cream, Oreo, whatever you want to call
it cheesecake brownie.
So good, you're gonna love it!
Let's run through the ingredients, I'm a little bit all over the place, but you know what,
it's fine.
For the cheesecake situation, you need your cream cheese.
By the way, don't look at my nails, my daughter painted them with a little nail kit that she
got for her birthday so I'm going to leave them even though they make no sense.
Cream cheese, egg, a little sugar, vanilla and some crushed Oreos.
Now, the world is your pickle, boo, you do you.
You don't like Oreos?
Use a different cookie.
Use whatever you want.
Because that's what cooking is all about, I like Oreo cookies but hey, you can do whatever
you want.
So let's work on the cheesecake situation, shall we?
With the cream cheese I'm going to add a splash of vanilla - good vanilla with all those beans,
see that?
That is flavor!
Your egg.
And some sugar.
And now Baby Bash Style - you know this if you were a teen in the early 2000s, you're
going to cream this until it's oh so fine.
So, I'm going to use my handheld electric whisk and I'll show you what it looks like
when it is there because it is going to be loud.
Beautiful.
Now, I don't know why I did that I'm going to need those.
Anyway, fold in your cookies.
And this is your cookies and cream cheesecake perfection layer.
Okay.
Now, I've got my oven preheated to 350F.
I have an 8 by 8 inch pan ready to go lined with parchment paper and sprayed well with
some spray, some baking spray, you can use butter, whatever your heart desires.
Switching gears to a large bowl with some unsalted butter that has been softened at
room temperature.
o it we are going to add eggs and w're going to cream this together until it's combined.
What I'm also going to do is - which you won't see - is I'm going to take chocolate chips,
pip them in the microwave, melt them until lovely, melted and delicious, and I'm going
to do all of that and meet you back here and we'll proceed.
I'm very excited.
Whenever there is sugar involved, which you guys know I don't eat until the weekend, I
get very excited because it's time for a treat.
Life is about balance, but you know the weekend, I'm going to have a glass of wine, I'm going
to have some sugar, most likely some pasta, maybe even some fried chicken.
The point is, I get very excited when it comes to some treats that I know I'm going to get
to enjoy with loved ones.
Okay, I'm going to cream this together and I'm going to pop this in.
Going to add my eggs, I'm going to make sure that it - somebody - thank you.
I'm going to make sure that they're all combined - hey!
Oh my plug is unplugged.
I'm going to plug my thing in, finish whisking this and then we'll add in the chocolate.
Add your chocolate, mostly molten - mostly fully melted but there's still a few chunks,
but you know what, the residual heat will continue to melt that, and I'm just going
to mix it all in.
Then we add in the next thing, and then we do this and then we you know - but it's easy.
Chocolate mixture is done, my dry ingredients which I'm just going to quickly mix with my
spoon - you know I didn't sift my cocoa powder, but don't tell anybody.
And you know why I didn't do it?
I could tell you that I forgot.
What's the fun in that?
I just didn't feel like it.
And do you want to know why?
Because washing a sieve is my least favorite thing in the world to do, and the dishwasher
doesn't do the best job at it so a lump of chocolate here or there is fine, it's fine
really.
Just blend that in, I'm just going to combine it with my spatula because it's easier, because
it starts to thicken and it gets just a little bit too hard to do with my whisk anyway, so.
Took about half of my brownie batter, more like a dough really, and you just sort of
smear it in an even layer in the bottom of your situation, of your 8 by 8.
Then you take this delight, your cheesecake filling, and you throw all of that right in
the middle.
You know this is going to be out of this world.
I mean you know it, you sense it, you feel it you understand it, and you're on board
with this.
Okay, now you take the remainder of your brownie batter, and because it's so thick it's much
easier to take small dollops and throw that on there, and I don't really worry about flattening
it out or anything because some of that cheesecake is going to peek through anyway, so it all
evens out in the oven and it's fine, and I just take little dollops like this and just
pop that on for now.
Once you've got the leftover batter on top, I just take the back of my spoon and you just
sort of smear it, like I said some of your cheesecake filling is going to peek through,
but you're not trying to cover the whole thing, you're trying to almost sandwich together
that cheesecake filling as much as you can.
This is going to go in your preheated oven at 350F for about 30 to 35 minutes or until
the brownies are pretty set, then they're going to cool and then we slice and we eat.
That's it!
So my brownies were in the oven for 35 minutes and as you can see, the batter as it cooks,
sort of evens out on top, and it's just perfection, I have let these cool for a couple of hours,
you want to make sure that these are at room temperature before you cut them.
The smell is so perfection, there are no words, and just you wait until you see this!
Look at the delicious, gooey, incredible.
I can't handle this, they're not dry, cakey brownies, these are deliciously fudgy, you
know why I'm cutting this because if you've met me and we've known each other a long time
then you know what I'm going after.
No thanks!
Yes Please!
Look at that!
My mouth is watering, it's gooey, it's so incredible you have absolutely no idea.
And.
It just goes down like cold water on a hot day.
It is a marriage made in food heaven by the food gods who love food.
It's what dreams are made of.
I have no words other than go to LauraintheKitchen.com, just do it.
I know it's rich, I know it's over the top, but if you're going to treat yourself on the
weekend, you might as well do it all the way.
The recipe is there.
I have no words, see you next time, I can't even talk.
Bye.