Gooey Mocha Cheesecake Brownie Cups
I usually buy cream cheese in 3 pound blocks and cut off the amount I need for various recipes. It should be a simple enough thing to do, but I often find that I forget about the last 8 ounces (½ pound) which then gets thrown away because I do not care for the green color my cream cheese has turned.
Enough was enough of my wasteful way. I made a Raspberry Ginger Cheesecake, which used 2 pounds of cream cheese. Rather than putting the remaining cream cheese into the back of the refrigerator, I decided to use it…I know, a novel idea.
Cups are always a favorite go-to for something new and fun and I had not made a cup with a cheesecake center. I had a craving for something with chocolate and coffee that helped guide the direction of this dessert.
The final creation is a Gooey Mocha Cheesecake Brownie Cup. Trying to figure out what this means? I made a mocha brownie recipe and also a coffee cheesecake recipe. Using two different size cookie dough scoops, I layered brownie/cheesecake/brownie into a cupcake tin and 18 minutes later, ‘Voila’, a new dessert came out of the oven.
What struck me as funny was giving a taste to Samuel, who does not care for coffee. I told him that there was coffee in the Cup ahead of time, but he really wanted to give it a try. I gave Samuel a little bite and at first he said, “It’s ok;” so I told him he did not have to eat the Cup and started to put it away when he immediately stopped me to say that he really wanted it. I knew Samuel loved it when he asked for another Cup for dessert that night.
It was kind of like giving Life cereal to Mikey. For those too young to know this old TV commercial – there were two boys who did not want to try Life cereal and they kept pushing the bowl back and forth between the two of them and finally said words to the effect, “Let’s give it to Mikey. He won’t like it. He doesn’t like anything.” Mikey finally tried the cereal and, of course, Mikey LOVED it.
There were others who tried and loved Gooey Mocha Cheesecake Brownie Cups and I greatly appreciate their feedback, but there was just something so delicious about Samuel’s reaction. Just like this dessert!
| Gooey Mocha Cheesecake Brownie Cups | | Print |
- Brownie:
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
- 1¼ cups chocolate chips
- Cheesecake:
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoon instant coffee
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1½ tablespoons heavy cream
- For the brownie:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Set aside a 12-cup muffin pan.
- Dissolve coffee in the vanilla. Set aside.
- Place the butter, sugar and brown sugar into a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave until the mixture is completely melted and bubbly. Be sure to use oven mitts when removing from the microwave as the bowl will be very hot.
- Whisk to blend the ingredients together. Whisk in the vanilla/coffee, then the flour and salt.
- Continuously whisk the mixture while adding the eggs, to prevent cooking the eggs.
- Lastly, use a wooden spoon to mix in the chocolate chips. Most will melt, but you may still have some that hold their shape. Set aside.
- For the cheesecake:
- Dissolve coffee in the vanilla. Set aside.
- Place cream cheese and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy, about three minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the egg followed by the cream and vanilla/coffee.
- Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray. Use a large cookie dough scoop for the brownie batter and a small cookie dough scoop for the cheesecake batter.
- Each cup will have 1 level scoop of brownie batter and 1 heaping scoop of cheesecake batter. Scoop ⅓ of the brownie batter scoop into the cup. Top this with a heaping scoop of the cheesecake batter. Top this with the remaining ⅔ of the brownie batter left in the scoop.
- Bake at 350°, on a rack in the middle of the oven, for 18 minutes. Rotate the pan front to back halfway through.
- Remove and cool completely in the pan. Use a small metal spatula to go around the edges of the Gooey Mocha Cheesecake Brownie Cups.
- Remove from the pan and refrigerate until cold.
