Name: Cream Cheese Brownies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 165 min
Ingredients: 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped); 1 ounces unsweetened chocolate (chopped); 1/2 cup salted butter (cut into chunks); 1 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 cup light brown sugar; 3 large eggs (room temperature); 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup chocolate chips (for sprinkling over the top of the brownies); 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened; 1 large egg (room temperature); 1/4 cup granulated sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Brownies are a swirly, gooey, and decadently irresistible brownie! They will be an absolute hit for anyone who likes brownies and cheesecake – this super chocolatey dessert is the perfect marriage of the two!

I love brownies in all shapes and sizes! I mean, who doesn’t right? From Butterfinger Brownies, and Fudgy Mint Brownies to Zucchini Brownies, let’s just say we have quite a few brownies floating around here at House of Nash Eats.

If you love brownies, make sure you don’t miss our Irresistible Mississippi Mud Brownies, Easy Caramel Pecan Brownies, Gooey Swirled Nutella Brownies, and these triple-decker Slutty Brownies.

But one of my favorite brownies ever is from a restaurant in Utah called Kneader’s. It was one of my favorite places to eat while I was attending law school at BYU in Provo, Utah. I love their turkey bacon avocado sandwich so much that I recreated it for this blog a couple of years ago. Their cream cheese swirl brownies are my other favorite thing to get for a treat whenever we are in town visiting, so I had to recreate them at home!

For this particular cream cheese brownie recipe, I’ve taken my tried-and-true, made-from-scratch Best Homemade Brownie Recipe up a notch by swirling cream cheese through it. I like to think of it as “brownie meets cheesecake”, and they are the perfect pair!

Overhead chocolate cream cheese brownies.

These cream cheese swirl brownies come out rich, dense, and extremely chocolatey with a wonderful tang from the cream cheese. It is the perfect bite!

One of the best things about these brownies is that they are extremely fudgy. The fudginess comes from butter and chocolate to flour ratio. More flour would give them a cake-like consistency, whereas more butter and chocolate (a.k.a. the fat content) will give them the fudginess we all love!

Ingredients to make cream cheese swirl brownies

Butter: I use salted butter in almost all of my baking. You could use oil instead, But I find that it doesn’t give the richness of butter.
Bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate: I used chocolate bars for these ingredients and chopped them up to make it easier to melt. I don’t use presweetened chocolate because I’ll add in brown and white sugar as well. These brownies are already very rich and we don’t want to over-sweeten them!
Sugar: After much testing, I have decided that using part brown sugar and part granulated sugar gives the best results in chewy brownies with a deep, rich flavor and a crackly crust on top.
Large eggs: Eggs make these cream cheese swirl brownies fudgy, and they also help to bind everything together.
All-purpose flour: I use unbleached all-purpose flour in this recipe and in most of my baking unless I specify otherwise.
Salt: Can’t make baked goods without a little salt!
Vanilla: This common baking ingredient amplifies the other flavors, rather than being noticeable on its own.
Semisweet chocolate chips: Sprinkle these over the cream cheese swirl brownies before baking. Because we need more chocolate, of course!

A slice of cream cheese brownie on a plate with a fork.

How to make this cream cheese brownie recipe

Prep the oven and pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with a parchment paper sling.

A bowl of chocolate and butter about to be melted together.

Whisking the chocolate mixture until smooth.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter together. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the chopped chocolate and butter. Heat in the microwave using short 20 second bursts for 60-90 seconds, stirring between each burst of heat until both are melted and smooth.

3. Whisk ingredients together. Whisk in the sugars until combined. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt. Whisk well until fully incorporated.

Adding 3 eggs to the brownie batter with a whisk.

Flour and dry ingredients added to wet brownie batter.

4. Add the flour, pour, and save. Stir in the flour just until combined using a spatula or wooden spoon. Transfer most of the brownie batter to the prepared pan, reserving about ¾ cup.

5. Make the cream cheese mixture. In a separate bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until combined.

Brownie batter and cheesecake batter dolloped together in a pan.

Brownie batter and cream cheese swirled together.

6. Dollop and swirl. Dollop spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture over the brownie batter, then fill in the space between the cream cheese filling with spoonfuls of the reserved brownie batter. Use a skewer or knife to swirl the cream cheese mixture into the brownies.

Swirled cream cheese brownies topped with chocolate chips.

Baked cream cheese brownies with chocolate chips.

7. Sprinkle, bake, cool, and eat. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the cream cheese brownies. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the brownies comes out with only a few crumbs on it, and then cool the brownies for at least 2 hours before cutting. We find it much easier to chill completely first before slicing into squares.

How do I store Cream Cheese Brownies?

Store leftover brownies in the refrigerator and serve chilled or let them sit out on the counter for an hour to come to room temperature before serving. They’ll keep for up to 4 days.

Can I freeze Cream Cheese Swirled Brownies?

Yes! These brownies freeze really well, however I highly recommend cutting your brownies into the portion sizes that you want before freezing so that they are easier to grab and go with as many you want. You can freeze them flat on a baking sheet, and then individually wrap in plastic wrap and then keep in a Ziploc bag.