Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Brownies combine your love of classic chocolate brownies with a chocolate chip cream cheese filling that's swirled together into a delicious marbled masterpiece! They're rich, they're decadent, and will satisfy any serious chocolate cravings in no time!
Table of Contents
Let's Talk About This Brownie Recipe
This chocolate chip cream cheese brownies recipe is adapted from my Black Bottom Cupcakes which have been a Beyond the Butter reader favorite!
The recipe is made in a 8 inch square pan, giving you approximately 16 squares of decadent brownies. And I'm not joking when I say they're decadent. With just one brownie, you'll be satisfied! I love them and I hope you do as well!
What Ingredients You'll Need
For the Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Filling
- Cream Cheese. Make sure it's the brick style cream cheese and not in a container. It's also good to have this softened to room temperature.
- Sour Cream. Use regular sour cream and at room temperature.
- Granulated Sugar. You can also use organic cane sugar.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Good quality chocolate chips are recommended for the filling, but use what you have on hand. Save some extra to sprinkle across the top before baking the brownies.
Chocolate Brownies
- All-Purpose Flour. You can use your favorite all-purpose flour in this recipe.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent to help give the brownies a nice moist, yet slightly cake-like texture. Don't worry, these are still fudgy!
- Salt. Just a pinch.
- Eggs. 2 large-size eggs are needed and at room temperature.
- Vanilla Extract. Use pure vanilla extract to help round out the flavors.
- Granulated Sugar. Just as above, granulated sugar can be substituted for organic cane sugar.
- Dark Chocolate. A good quality bar of 60-70% dark chocolate is preferred.
- Unsalted Butter. No need to worry about this being at room temperature because it gets melted together with the dark chocolate.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. You can also use a dark chocolate cocoa powder, such as Hershey's Special Dark. This gets folded into the melted mixture.
Substitutions
Milk Chocolate Chips. In place of semi-sweet chocolate chips you can use milk chocolate chips or try another favorite like butterscotch, salted caramel, or peanut butter.
Other Substitutions. I did not test this recipe using any egg substitutes, alternative flours, sugars, or cocoa powders.
For super fudgy chocolate chip cream cheese brownies, you can omit the baking powder.
How to Make the Brownies
Prep all of your ingredients. Measure everything out, preheat your oven, and get your 8 inch baking pan prepped. Doing all these things before starting the recipe will help move things along much faster!
Make the cream cheese filling. I used my hand mixer and medium size mixing bowl for this part. You want the filling to be nice and creamy. Fold in the chocolate chips at the end.
Make sure to save a few to sprinkle over the top before baking them.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. This includes the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
Melt the chocolate and butter. You can either do this in the microwave, double boiler, or a bain-marie. Once smooth and fully melted, stir in the unsweetened cocoa powder.
If using a double boiler or bain-marie, remove the melted mixture from heat first before stirring in the cocoa powder.
Whisk the wet ingredients together. This includes the eggs, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar. You can use a whisk and medium-size mixing bowl for this part.
Combined everything together. First add the melted chocolate mixture to the wet ingredients with whisk. Then stir in the dry ingredients using a spatula. Very important step—reserve ½ cup of the brownie batter and put it into a mixing bowl. I recommend reusing the bowl you used to melt the chocolate.
Spoon the batter and filling into the pan. With a spatula, spoon the brownie batter into the pan. The brownie batter will be on the thicker side. Then top with the cream cheese filling.
Top with reserved batter and swirl. Make sure to heat up the ½ cup of reserved brownie batter for 30-45 seconds before dolloping it on top of the chocolate chip cream cheese filling. Use a butter knife to create the swirl pattern. Sprinkle on the extra chocolate chips.
Bake and cool. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350ºF. Remove and let them cool completely before cutting them.
Helpful Brownie Baking Tools
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My Best Tips for Making Easy Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Brownies
Add a parchment paper sleeve. An easy way to remove your brownies for cutting and also protect your baking pan. You can overlap two sheets of paper or use just one.
Spray your pan first with some flour-based baking spray, add the parchment paper sleeve(s), then lightly spray again.
You can also use aluminum foil in place of parchment paper. Spray with baking spray as well.
Make the chocolate chip cream cheese filling first. You don't want your brownie batter to sit around after you've made it, so having your cream cheese filling done first is key. This way you can immediately add the batter to the baking pan, followed by the filling, dollop the reserved brownie batter over the top, swirl, then bake!
Don't over mix your brownie batter. The more you mix, the more air you'll incorporate into the batter which can lead to brownies that are more like a dry cake. For the best brownies, mix until the whisked dry mixture has just blended in with the rest of the brownie batter.
Warm up the reserved brownie batter. To make it easier to swirl, heat the reserved brownie batter in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.
Use a butter knife. For swirling the reserved brownie batter into the chocolate chip cream cheese filling, use a butter knife.
Add some extra chocolate chips. Save some of your semi-sweet chocolate chips to sprinkle over the top of your brownies before baking.
Check your oven temperature. It's an inexpensive tool that can save you a lot of heartache when baking or cooking by making sure your oven has calibrated to the correct temperature.
Let them cool. The hardest part, especially when these smell so good after baking, is letting the black bottom brownies cool completely (about 1 hour).
Keep it chilled. Any leftover chocolate chip cream cheese brownies should be refrigerated and kept in a well-sealed food container for up 3 days. To freeze the brownies, wrap them individually in plastic wrap then keep in a well-sealed container for up to 1 month.
Brownie Making FAQs
No, this brownie recipe baked immediately after you've made them.
In place of the unsweetened cocoa powder, you can use the same amount of dark chocolate cocoa powder instead.
This makes it easier to dollop and swirl over the top of the chocolate chip cream cheese filling layer.
Yes. They should be kept in a well-sealed food container for up to 3 days.
Yes. After cutting them, individually wrap them in plastic wrap and keep in a tightly sealed food container in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Yes. You should still be able to spread it out in the baking pan though.
Enjoy These Other Brownie Recipes!
- Chocolate Peppermint Swirled Brownies
- Salted Brownie Crinkle Cookies
- Double Chocolate Mint Brownies
- Salted Pecan Pie Brownies
- Fudgy Brownies with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Brownies
Author:Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 oz Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup Sour Cream, room temperature
- ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
- 4 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Brownies
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 2 Large Eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 4 oz Dark Chocolate, melted
- 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level position (just above center) and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray an 8 inch square baking pan with a flour-based baking spray. Line with parchment paper sling, if desired then lightly respray.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add in the sour cream and granulated sugar, mixing until fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Set to the side.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Microwave the dark chocolate and unsalted butter together in 45 second to 1 minute increments at 50% power, stirring each time, until smooth and melted. Stir in the unsweetened cocoa powder. Set to the side.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and granulated sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, if needed.
- Using a whisk, add in the melted chocolate mixture. Then fold in the whisked dry mixture with a spatula stirring until just combined.
- Reserve ½ cup of the brownie batter for topping.
- To the prepared 8 inch square baking pan, add the brownie batter (minus the reserved ½ cup) and spread out with a spatula.
- Top with the chocolate chip cream cheese filling.
- Microwave the reserved brownie batter for 15-30 seconds then, with a spoon, add dollops of the warm batter over the top of the chocolate chip cream cheese filling. With a butter knife, swirl through the brownie batter and cream cheese filling to create a marbled pattern. Top with extra chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350ºF or until an inserted toothpick (the brownie parts only) comes out with only brownie crumbs.
- Let the brownies cool in the pan for about an hour before cutting them.
- Keep leftover brownies in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Brownies can be kept in the freezer by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap then storing them in a well sealed container for up to 1 month.
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