Double Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

This recipe was adapted from BakingBlonde's cooking blog. It's a chocolate brownie swirled with a peanut butter cheesecake mix then topped with chopped peanut butter cups. In her version she makes the brownies from scratch, bless her heart, but with a 6-month-old I don't have the time or energy so I used a boxed mix. Her recipe is also for an 8x8 pan, mine is for a 9x13 so I've doubled the peanut butter swirl. Jeremy LOVES the peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's so we used those for topping, but Reese's would work just fine. These are crazy rich (I'm never one to say something is "too rich" but these are close) so I cut them into smaller squares than I normally would and sent them off with Jeremy to work. It got rave reviews! I'd recommend to make them a day before you plan to serve, it really enhances the flavor and texture.

DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE SWIRL BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS:


For brownies:
1 box Duncan Hines Family Style Chewy Fudge brownies
3 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For peanut butter cheesecake swirl:
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Peanut butter cups, chopped, for topping (about 2 cups)



DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 baking pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a large bowl, stir together brownie mix, eggs, water and oil until just blended - do not overmix. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl beat together cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add egg and beat until just combined.

4. Spread about 2/3 of chocolate brownie batter into prepared pan. Evenly drop 1/2 of cheesecake batter in dollups over brownie batter. Run a knife through both mixtures to slightly swirl. Dollop remaining brownie batter and cheesecake batter over swirled mixture. Run knife through the brownie and cheesecake dollups (not all the way through the already swirled layer) to create a swirled pattern.

5. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, then sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups over top of brownies. Finish baking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting and serving.