Cheesecake Topped Brownies with Pumpkin Butter Swirl
These delicious brownies make a great fall dessert!
Ingredients
BROWNIE LAYER
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) salted butter
- 12 ounces (¾ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 6 large eggs
- 1½ cups packed dark brown sugar
- 1½ cups granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
CHEESECAKE LAYER
- 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
PUMPKIN LAYER
- 1 cup apricot jam
- 1 cup pumpkin butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a 12x17x1 inch baking pan (also known as a jelly roll pan or half sheet pan) with buttered parchment paper or foil.
BROWNIE LAYER
- Melt butter and chocolate in top of double boiler (or carefully, in short bursts, in the the microwave). Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, whisk 6 eggs, brown sugar, and 1½ cups granulated sugar together. Stir in vanilla, salt, melted butter and chocolate chocolate mixture, flour and cocoa. Pour into prepared pan and spread to the sides.
CHEESECAKE LAYER
- Beat the cream cheese using a mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add remaining eggs, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch; beat until smooth.
- Dollop mixture all over the chocolate layer. Gently use a spoon to spread out evenly over the chocolate, trying not to dig into the chocolate layer. (If you're patient, it works out just fine.)
PUMPKIN LAYER
- Whisk together jam and pumpkin butter in a small bowl.
- Drop spoonfuls onto cream cheese layer and draw swirls using a knife. Try to stay inside the cream cheese layer only and don't pull up the chocolate with the knife.
- Bake until center tests clean, about 40 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.
Notes
- It's best to cool these to room temperature, then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight before cutting. You'll get the cleanest cuts that way.
- If you prefer, you can use Halloween themed cookie cutters to cut out shaped brownies, but you'll have lots of tidbits leftover to munch on.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 242kcal, Carbohydrates: 30g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 57mg, Sodium: 179mg, Potassium: 114mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 20g, Vitamin A: 837IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 32mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello, I’ve noticed an error with this recipe. Your list of ingredients says to use 3 teaspoons of vanilla. But, when in the instructions it says to add in 3 tablespoons of vanilla. Which is the correct amount? Thank you!
teaspoons! thank you for catching that- I’ll fix!
I made this last year and used strawberry jam instead of apricot. It was a major hit at work. This year I am going to try it with an apple cider jam. I hope it turns out just as good.
I made this for Thanksgiving (Canadian) dinner dessert, using my own home made pumpkin butter mixed with the apricot jam. It’s exceptionally delicious – and serves a crowd! The combination of chocolate, pumpkin, apricot jam and cream cheese is a winner – and I would definitely include the apricot jam.
My question is – does it freeze well? I have lots left over and would love to serve it again in a few weeks.
Hi Barbara, it has been many years since I’ve made this one so I’m not sure. You can certainly try!
This recipe is too big for me to risk wasting ingredients on not doing something right. So, 1) I wanted to make sure…Is the butter called for in this recipe salted or unsalted? And, 2) Does the top taste just as good with only Pumpkin Butter and NOT the Apricot Jam?
Thanks!
Hi Carey- I always use salted butter unless indicated to use unsalted in the recipe. So salted butter in this one. I haven’t tried it with all pumpkin butter. My concern would be that it might make the swirl part a different, looser texture than intended. I can’t tell you for certain if using all pumpkin butter will work out the same. Good luck!
Whoah! I was gettin’ my Google on trying to find a recipe for a chocolate swirled pumpkin cheesecake that I had seen on a blog a few weeks ago and came across the photo of your bars. Holy smokes! They look fantastic! I’m printing out the recipe, so I don’t find myself in another desperate recipe search a few weeks down the road when I decided to make these!