Strawberry or Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

For when you really want to indulge that sweet tooth...

Oct 29, 2020

Six months into newsletter, I’m streamlining the Rad Dishes online presence. The Facebook page is gone and the original blog is no more — the site isn’t fully deleted, but it is becoming a “highlights blog.” I’m going to remain focused on this newsletter, but a new version of the website will highlight my best/favorite/signature recipes from the old blog and eventually, future newsletters. It will be minimalist — a picture, a recipe — but that’s all it needs to be (it should be live by next month’s newsletter).

With that said, today’s recipe is a lightly tweaked recipe from the blog’s early days. If you’ve been watching the most recent season of The Great British Baking Show, you may have caught the brownie challenge. Without spoiling much, those brownies were… upsetting. But watching the episode made me want to make brownies, and while a simple batch would have hit the spot, I recalled the raspberry cheesecake brownies I made in the blog’s early days. I’ve previously made them using frozen raspberries, but I had strawberries in my freezer. So I used those this time around and the end result was still deliciously indulgent. Read on for more. (The instructions appear lengthy, but it’s not that complicated!)

RECIPE: Strawberry or Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients

Makes approximately 16 two-inch brownies

For strawberry or raspberry compote

3/4 cup strawberries or raspberries, frozen or fresh

2 tablespoons sugar (I use slightly less than this with strawberries)

1/2 tablespoon juice from a lemon

3/4 teaspoon triple sec*

1/4 teaspoon corn starch

For brownie batter

1/2 cup unsalted butter (sliced into pieces)

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (chopped)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For cheesecake batter

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Making the strawberry or raspberry compote

Thaw the strawberries or raspberries if using frozen ones.
Add them and all other ingredients (sugar, juice from lemon, triple sec and corn starch) to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Let the ingredients simmer, stirring from time to time.
When the strawberries or raspberries fall apart, while the sauce retains some thickness, remove the compote from the heat. Give it time to cool.

Prepping the brownies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8x8-inch baking pan.
Heat butter and chocolate — you can do this in a saucepan or use the double boiler method, which is what I did (placing the bowl I was using over simmering water in another pot).
Whisk the chocolate mixture occasionally until just melted. Then remove from heat and whisk in the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add a little pinch of salt and whisk all the ingredients until they're evenly combined.
Whisk in the flour until just combined. You can now spread the batter in your baking pan.

Prepping the cheesecake layer

Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients (softened cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract) until it results in a smooth mixture.
Dollop the cheesecake batter onto the brownie batter in the baking pan. Spread as evenly as possible over the brownie batter.

Final steps

Now take your compote and drop it over different parts of the cheesecake. Take a butter knife and swirl the compote over the cheesecake.
Word of advice: Start by putting only about half the compote you've prepared and see how you like the appearance/distribution of berries. (I usually have a couple of tablespoons worth of compote left over, which I don't consider a problem since it can easily be used up over ice cream, yogurt, bread and other items.)
Bake the brownies for 40 minutes until the edges are puffed a bit and the center is just set. (The cheesecake element will jiggle lightly when first removed from the oven. If you're worried, you can perform an imperfect toothpick test by inserting one through the middle of the brownies — the chocolate portion shouldn't stick the toothpick, though cheesecake residue will appear).
Let the brownies cool to room temperature. To get cleaner slices, it is best to then refrigerate the brownies for at least three to four hours.

Notes

* If you don't have any form of triple sec/orange liqueur around, I think the compote will still turn out fine.

Cheesecake brownie portion of recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Storage and Serving

It's best to keep the brownies refrigerated up to a few days. When serving, let the brownies come to room temperature.

Food for Thought

I’m keeping these next couple of sections shorter in light of the lengthy instructions above, but speaking of Smitten Kitchen, I wanted to re-up this Chicken, Leek, and Rice Soup she posted in March that I made immediately and froze into individual servings. It’s like a grownup take on chicken noodle soup, super comforting and absolutely delicious — perfect as we head back into colder months.

Bites of Culture

What I’m Watching:

We’re taking a detour from all the rewatches we’ve been doing and just started The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. It probably is at least one to two episodes too long like most Netflix shows, but three episodes in, I’m sucked in.

Also, I completed my much-behind-everyone-else viewing of Avatar: The Last Airbender and am now on The Legend of Korra, which does have some shaky spots, but I really love the world-building done to expand on the Avatar universe, and the animation is super cool.

What I’m Reading:

I’m not sure I love this book yet, but I’m in about one-fourth of the way through Passage West by Rishi Reddi, which follows Indian sharecroppers in California. The characters are Punjabi, like my own family, so I do like that I’m reading historical fiction I have some insight into (though this exact history does not match my own family’s path to the U.S.). This piece about California’s Punjabi-Mexican cuisine from Eater last year stuck with me when I read it and it was the first thing I thought about when I heard about this book, so while it’s still too early in the journey for me to have a verdict, I am really glad more stories like this are being told.

What I’m Listening to:

If you know me in real life, you know I love all things Damon Albarn and therefore, love Gorillaz, who have a new album (Song Machine: Season One) out. I baked to this album over the weekend (it was a very dance-filled baking session) and like many Gorillaz albums, I’d say give it a couple of listens even if it seems a bit disjointed at first… and suddenly you’ll find yourself loving a good number of tracks.

I also really like beabadoobee’s Fake It Flowers. She is a very young person who makes me feel very old, but her music clearly has a ‘90s influence (the Lush comparisons have been out there a while). Whenever concerts can make a proper comeback, she is someone I would consider checking out live. If you haven’t listened to her yet, give her a try!

Thanks for reading this edition of Rad Dishes! You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter. The original Rad Dishes is gone, but a highlights version of the site/newsletter will be up and running shortly. Keep your eyes open.