I highlighted my changes in green, but really the only alterations I made were to use graham crackers instead of chocolate cookies for the crust, and I did not fold my brownies into the batter, but rather layered the batter, then brownies and repeated. You can see the original at Annie’s link above. :)
Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake
For the brownies:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup butter
1 ¾ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1 cup flour
For the crust:
1 ½ cups finely ground graham crackers
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
For the cheesecake:
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
For the ganache:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup plus 1 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. butter, cut into two pieces
To make the brownies, preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9×13” baking pan with foil, leaving the ends of the foil overhanging the sides of the pan. Grease the foil and set aside.
Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl on high for 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add salt and flour; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with fudgy crumbs (do not overbake). Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using foil handles. Cool brownies, then cut into ¾ – 1” squares for use in the cheesecake. Set aside 2 cups for the recipe, and will have many extra brownies left over.
To prepare the crust, combine all crust ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Press onto the bottom and one inch up the side of a 9-inch springform pan. Fill right away or chill for up to 2 hours.
For the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 350°. Beat the cream cheese in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low speed, scraping down the bowl between additions. Add vanilla and sugar and beat until well combined.
Pour enough cheesecake batter onto crust to cover the bottom. Gently place brownie squares on top of cheesecake batter, leaving about an inch or so between pieces. Add enough cheesecake batter to cover brownies and add more brownies on top of that. Note that I cut this layer of brownies into even smaller pieces. Pour remaining batter on top.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but center is still slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken. Allow to cool completely.
To make the ganache, put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil, the pour hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Working with a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don’t stir the ganache any more than you must to blend the ingredients – the less you work it, the darker, smoother and shinier it will be. Let sit until it thickens to desired consistency. Then pour on top of cooled cheesecake and spread evenly. Chill to set.
FABULOUS!!
Come on! Now I have to make this! THANKS A LOT…arughhhh haha lol
I’m going to print this off and give it a try. It looks reaaaaaaaaaly good!
OneJo2Go
This sounds sinfully delicious!
This looks totally amazing!
Wow.. looks delicious! Bookmarked this one for later usage :-) Love the pics too btw.
Totally over the top!!! and…. I wanna taste! Great !!!
I love cheesecake! This looks amazing!
All I can say it OOOHHH!
Now that looks divine, no heavenly!
Oh, how heavenly!!
Argh, another delicious dessert! You’ve successfully combined my two favorites into one dessert, what will I do now? This looks amazing. Thanks for sharing!
FABULOUS is correct, OMG this looks so very goooood!!!
Yes! Yes! YES! I want this! It looks sooooooo good! I’m printing out the recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Great photos,too!
~ingrid
Ooh yum, yum and yum. That reminds me of the Cheesecake Brownie ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. So good.
Wow! Looks wonderful.
oooh and this one too! So much for baking exile. lol
Oh yes, this one is definitely a fave!!
That is one fabulous looking cheesecake, Amanda! I know two grandkids who would love for their Nana to make one of these. I better get busy!
mmmm! I like cheesecake, but my husband would go crazy for this! Thanks!!!
This looks like my kind of cheesecake! Wicked!
This cheesecake is simply decadent and fabulous! Great job :)
Has anyone made these? Would like to hear feed back on how it turned out. Thanks.
Hi Denise :) I don’t know if anyone else has made this and reported back in the comments, but I’ve made it twice and it was amazing both times :)
How do you remove the entire cheesecake from springform pan to a nice cake stand without making the crust and the cheesecake fall apart during the transition?
Thanks,
Serena
Hi Serena :) I’ve found that the best way is to slide an icing spatula under the crust, slowly and bit by bit, until it’s loosened and you can slide it onto your serving dish. If you line the bottom of the springform pan with a parchment circle before adding the crust ingredients that can be very helpful as well!
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