If you have finished your exams for the year: congratulations! If you’ve finished your undergrad: double congratulations! If not, you might still have some studying to do, so pin this for later! (Unless you’ve got some time now, of course).
Here’s a celebratory post in honour of my last exam at York! A cheesecake recipe. Although this brownie recipe is only about two weeks old, I’ve been working on my cheesecake recipes for somewhere around 2 years now; not to toot my own horn, but I’ve heard it’s not too shabby.
This is a simple recipe using store-bought brownies for the crust, but you can also you use graham crackers or oreo crumbs instead (a strawberry or whipped cream topping is great with these).
Time: 45 mins – hour to mix and bake, up to 24 hours to chill (the longer it’s chilled the better)
Serving size: 14-16 cupcakes
Ingredients:
Cream cheese, 3 bars (750 grams)
Sour cream, 3 tbsp (depending on the consistency you want)
Sugar, ½ cup
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
Eggs, 2-3 (depending on the consistency you want)
Brownies, pre-made
The first thing you need to do is let your cream cheese get to room temperature, and times will vary for this. It’s best to start mix it when it’s become extremely soft, it’s much easier to mix. When you are ready to mix, turn on your oven, and set to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit).
Pour in your half-cup of sugar, and mix well. Proceed to add your eggs one at a time, and mix well. Use 2 eggs for a thicker consistency, or a third for a lighter consistency. Alternatively, you can also add an extra tablespoon of sour cream, which is the next step. Add vanilla extract (I’ve said 1 teaspoon as a guideline, but I’m pretty liberal with it, it’s all up to you). If you have a cake mixer, go ahead and use that, but I like to mix it by hand (you can use the fork to break up cream cheese and the whisk to blend everything together).
Place your cupcake liners in the cupcake tin, and place the brownies inside each liner. Press down on each brownie until it evenly coats to bottom (see photo above), and place a spoonful of the cheesecake batter on top.
When the oven gets to 350 degrees, put it in the oven. I usually leave it in for at least 25 minutes, but I like to check at 15 and 20 minutes – depending on how much batter you’ve placed in each tin, it may take more or less time.
Tip: opening the oven can cause the cakes to crack if they haven’t cooked through, so turn on the oven light instead.
You’ll know they’re cooked when to top is mostly firm. If you want to eat them right away, make sure the top is completely firm; if you’ve got a lot of self-control and are willing to wait for them to cool, they can be a little loose (shake it to check) on top, and it’ll firm as it cools. Take them out and let them chill for at least four hours to be fully chilled. They also taste extremely good out of the oven, when the brownies are warm and gooey!
And voila! You can relax and unwind with some seriously good mini brownie cheesecake (they may not be the best if you’re trying to get that coveted summer body) and finally binge watch that season on Netflix without the guilt of readings.
Enjoy! Here’s to summer!