Because cheesecake and brownies aren’t enough of an indulgence on their own.  I refuse to contemplate the caloric intake of these wonderful beauties, just know that they are worth it – to the very last crumb.

There are three different components to this recipe, but don’t let that deter you.  Once you have each of the separate components – the brownies, the cheesecake, and the strawberry topping – made it is simply a matter of layering them into a baking dish and transferring them to the oven.  Surprisingly, easy!

Ingredients:

Strawberry Topping: (you can also save yourself the extra work, and just warm up some store bought jelly)

• 1/2 lb of Strawberries
• 1/2 cup Sugar

Brownies:

• 10oz semi-sweet Chocolate chopped into even pieces for melting
• 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter
• 4 Eggs
• 1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup Flour

Cheesecake:

• 1 lb (16 oz) Cream Cheese (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 tsp Salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F (~177 C).

Line a 9×13 baking dish with aluminum foil, and grease.

Strawberry Topping:

1. Dice up the strawberries, and add them and the sugar into a small sauce pan.
2. Cover the pan and bring the ingredients to a gentle boil.
3. Once the strawberries have melted into the sugar, remove the pan from the heat.
4. You now have two choices 1.) pour the liquid through a mesh strainer to remove the larger strawberry chunks 2.) use an immersion blender to combine the strawberries into a thick puree.
5. Set aside to cool.

Brownies:

1. Melt the butter and the chocolate together until smooth.  You can do this in either the microwave or a double boiler.
2. Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
3. Beat the chocolate into the egg mixture.
4. Shift in the flour, and mix until fully combined.
5. Evenly spread the brownie batter across the bottom of the greased baking dish.
6. Set aside.

Cheesecake:

1. Beat the cream cheese until fluffy.
2. Beat in the sugar, flour, and salt.
3. Beat in the eggs.
4. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest.
5. Your cheesecake batter should be nice and smooth, but if it feels a little stiff to you, add in a couple of tbsp of milk thin it out.  The cheese cake batter should be slightly wetter then the brownie batter.
6. Scoop the cheesecake batter over the brownie batter, and use a butter knife or spatula to gently spread the cheesecake batter evenly over the brownie batter.  Make sure to not disturb the layer of brownie batter underneath.
7. Drizzle the strawberry topping over the cheesecake layer.
8. Use a toothpick or a knife to marble the strawberry topping with the cheesecake.  Don’t dig in deep enough to disturb the brownies on the bottom.  Tread lightly, a little marbling or feathering goes a long ways.
9. Bake for 60 -70 minutes.
10. Cool and store the refrigerator before consumption.