Stuffed 2XL Brownies

It's hard to beat a warm chocolate brownie. I think just about anyone can agree with me that everyone loves a good brownie. The best part about these scrumptious little baked goods is the ease of preparation. Today you can find an assortment of delicious pre-packaged brownies mixes. Add oil, eggs, and water and all of a sudden you have a pretty fantastic and fresh chocolate dessert. Serve with a bit of ice cream or whipped cream and you've really got something.


Since brownies come together so quickly, I don't mind putting in a little extra effort to push the recipe right over the top! Lately, I've really enjoyed mixing up cheesecakes, so I thought I'd look to incorporate a cream cheese element into the brownies. Additionally, I wanted some sort of sweet caramel flavor thrown into the mix.

I started with a couple of boxes of chocolate fudge brownie mix. After whisking in the standard eggs, oil, and water, I could have easily had a great dessert. But I decided I'd make it a stellar dessert! So I creamed together cream cheese, eggs, a bit of sugar, and a splash of vanilla extract. I wanted to avoid an overly sweet cream cheese filling. The brownie mix is plenty sweet, and I wanted a tangy creamy element to combat the overly sweet chocolate fudge brownie. I poured half of the brownie batter into a 13x9" pan. Then I spooned the cream cheese filling onto the brownie batter. Using a butter knife, I swirled the cream cheese into the brownie batter, but I wanted to make sure that the brownie batter and cheesecake filling still remained two separate entities. I decided I'd sprinkle a few butterscotch chips onto the brownie batter to add a caramel like element to the stuffed brownies. Finally, I poured the remaining brownie batter into the pan. Now as these are "double XL" brownies, they did take a good long while to bake, as well as a while to cool. But I promise your patience will be rewarded!



Stuffed 2XL Brownies

Ingredients

• 2 19.5oz packaged brownie mix
• 1 cup oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 eggs
• 16oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk together brownie mix with oil, water, and 4 eggs. Using an electric mixer, cream together cream cheese, 2 eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Pour half of the brownie batter into a greased 13x9" pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over the brownie batter. Sprinkle butterscotch chips over the pan. Pour remaining brownie batter over the top of the cream cheese. Bake for 90 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cover pan with aluminum foil for the last 30 minutes to avoid burning the top of the brownies. 

Makes 24 brownies.