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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Brownies



(This recipe was first posted in conjunction with the Meijer Ad Week of 5/20/12 - 5/26/12)

These delicious, fudgy bars have the same flavor as a topsy-turvy cupcake, but require less prep time.  If I bring a meal to someone, these brownies usually accompany the meal...and they're always a hit!


Ingredients:
1 pkg chocolate fudge cake mix (regular, double-layer size)
3 eggs, divided
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 - 8 oz box cream cheese, softened
1/3 C sugar
1 - 12 oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Use a wooden spoon to mix the cake mix, 2 eggs, and vegetable oil.  Mixture will be very stiff and thick.  Reserve about 1 cup of this mixture, and pat the remainder into an UNgreased 9x13 baking pan to form a crust.  Bake the crust 7 minutes at 350 degrees.  Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, 1 egg, and sugar until smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Carefully spread this mixture over baked crust.  Use clean hands to form thin patties with the remainder of chocolate dough, and arrange patties over top of cream cheese mixture, allowing some of the cream cheese mixture to show...like this:
Return pan to oven and bake 20-25 more minutes, until cream cheese layer is barely starting to brown.  Cool, cut, and store in the refrigerator. 

Options and Tips
  • These bars freeze well, and are delicious straight from the freezer.
  • Chocolate fudge cake mix gives these bars a rich flavor, but I've also used regular chocolate and even German chocolate cake mixes in a pinch.
    This recipe, in its original form, can be found on page 150 of Heritage Christian School's "Favorite Family Recipes" cookbook.  My mom submitted the recipe, and later made a slight change to the baking instructions.  Her "new" way of baking these bars is the way I make them.

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