The Baked Good Everyone Loves

Jenni's Cheesecake Brownies

You can never go wrong with brownies, everyone likes them! But you can go wrong when making them at altitude. Some of the worst baked goods ever made were attempted in my Frisco kitchen at 9042 feet. The boxed version I had perfected in Fort Collins didn’t even work. Every brand I tried came out goopey in the middle or crunchy on the sides. Then my room mate Sal got me the wonderful, totally old school, “The New High Altitude Cookbook.” After several test runs I developed what is now my standard, go to brownie recipe.

2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup dark cocoa
2 cups sugar
½ cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
9x13 baking pan
medium sauce pan
small mixing bowl
~
1, 8 ounce package fat free cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 TBS flour
¼ tsp vanilla extract
medium mixing bowl

1. Grease and flour baking pan (I cheat and use a spray mixture you can now find in the baking asile of most grocery stores). Set aside.
2. In sauce pan over medium heat, melt shortening and cocoa together until smooth.


3. Add sugar and milk. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
4. In mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Slowly add flour mixture to chocolate mixture, stirring until smooth.


6. Add well beaten eggs and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
7. Pour into prepared pan.
8. Turn on oven to 350 degrees.
9. In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.
10. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and well blended.
11. Add eggs. Beat until smooth and well blended.
12. Add flour. Beat until JUST blended.
13. Spread cheese mixture as evenly as possible over chocolate mixture.


14. Using a fork, swirl fork back and forth length wise and width wise, a couple times each, through the pan. I think fully incorporating the cheesecake mixture into the chocolate mixture, a bit more than similar standard brownie recipes suggest, yields more consistent and fully set brownies at altitude.


15. Bake for 45 minutes.
NOTE: Sticking a toothpick or cake tester in the middle of brownies isn’t the best method for testing doneness. With this recipe, I know 45 minutes works perfectly. With others, keep an eye on the edges and remove from the oven just after the brownies start to pull away from the sides of the pan.
16. Two minutes after removing from oven, insert a metal spatula between the brownies and all sides of the pan using a straight up and down motion. If they are extra moist, sliding the spatula may create rough edges by pulling small crumbs away.
17. Move to wire rack to cool completely.


18. Ooo, those pesky odd numbers – share with friends ;)