Friday, January 25, 2013

Guest Post: Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

Happy day after National Peanut Butter Day!  In retrospect, I should have shared this post yesterday but it wasn't until it was too late that we realized this day even existed.  How in the world my peanut butter loving husband missed the "celebration" of his favorite food beats me!

Regardless, here's a recipe in honor of that special day.  It's a guest post by my husband and there's both photo documentation and me vouching for the fact that he indeed made this cake ALL BY HIMSELF.  Yes, even the decoration of the cake!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bottom Cheesecake

Chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and Reese cups, oh my!
One of my Facebook fans asked if he cleaned up his own mess, too.  And the answer is YES!  In fact, my husband is so sweet he often cleans up after me while I'm cooking up a storm in the kitchen.  Am I a lucky gal or what?  Sorry ladies, he's taken ;).

I followed the original directions to the ganache which yielded wayyy more
drizzle than was needed.  And hey, you can't let good ganache go to waste!

Here's Chris' post and review.  He's pretty excited to be in charge of desserts now because it means he gets to make what  HE likes.  Which...of course is all things peanut butter and chocolate!

My two favorite flavors are: peanut butter and chocolate. Combine them - and it becomes exponentially better! That's also what makes Reese's my favorite candy. Combine Reese's with chocolate brownies, peanut butter cheesecake - that's what I call a dessert! I found this recipe and decided to venture into baking some of my favorite desserts since at some point Christine might get sick of making them! I made this for our friend's Christmas get-together. There was a dessert competition and I won "Best Presentation"! Everyone also agreed that it was very good tasting as well. It was quite a bit of work but it was worth it!

For those that are wondering, you don't actually want to know how many calories are in this thing.  Just close your eyes, eat, and ENJOY!  But then again, did you REALLY think it would be remotely healthy given the name and ingredients?  Yeah didn't think so.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bottom Cheesecake


Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bottom Cheesecake Slice

Ingredients
For the Brownie Crust
  • 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, melted + Extra for greasing
  • 1-¼ cup Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
  • 2 whole Eggs
  • 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Flour
  • ⅓ cups Unsweetened Cocoa
  • ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
  • ½ teaspoons Salt
  • 1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • 1 cup Peanut Butter Chips
  • 6 whole Peanut Butter Cups, Cut Into Quarters
For the Cheesecake Filling
  • 2 pounds Cream Cheese, Softened
  • 5 whole Eggs, Room Temperature
  • 1-½ cup Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed
  • 1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
  • ½ cups Whipping Cream
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
For the Decoration
  • 1/4 cups Whipping Cream
  • 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • 1/2 cup Peanut Butter Chips
  • 7 Peanut Butter Cups, Cut In Half
Directions
For the Brownie Crust:
  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a deep 9-inch Springform pan with extra butter. (We use this one from Wilton.  It is 9" diameter and nearly 3" tall.  If you use one any smaller, you'll need to reduce the cheesecake filling or it will overflow!  It's a tight fit to begin with...ours barely fit!)
  2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with spoon or wire whisk. Add eggs; stir until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; blend well. Spread in prepared pan.
  3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from side of pan. Meanwhile make cheesecake layer (see step #1 below).
  4. Immediately after removing brownie from oven, sprinkle milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups over brownie surface. Spoon cheesecake mixture over chips. Turn down oven 325° and continue with cheesecake filling step #2 below.
For the Cheesecake Filling:
  1. Beat cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sugar, peanut butter and cream; mix until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour filling into prepared crust.
  2. Double-wrap Springform pan with aluminum foil to prevent water seeping in. To do this, cut a large square of foil and place the pan in the center.  Wrap the foil up the sides so that the seam of the pan bottom and springform side is covered.  Leave the top uncovered. Place Springform pan into a larger baking pan. Pour hot water into the larger pan so that the water comes 1 inch up the sides of the Springform pan.
  3. Bake at 325 degrees 1-1/2 hours, or until firm and lightly browned.
  4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for one hour. Run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan somewhat. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before decorating. I tend to make cheesecakes a day ahead to let things set.
  5. Remove cake from pan and put on a pretty plate.
Chris' Cheesecake tip: to get the cake off you just need to heat up the bottom of the pan a bit and the cake should come off easily. I remove the sides, then hold the pan over a burner on my stove – set to LOW – for about 15 or so seconds. Then run a long cake spatula under the cake and it should slip easily off the pan. Just be careful – the bottom of the cake is now very slippery.

For the Decoration:
  1. Bring whipping cream to boil in a small saucepan.
  2. Remove from heat and add semi-sweet and peanut butter chips. Stir, stir, stir until melted and smooth.
  3. Drizzle over cake and then add peanut butter cup halves around the edge of the cake.
Chris' Decoration tip: I dipped the cut edge of the peanut butter cups into the ganache before placing it on the cake.  This served as a sort of "glue" to hold the decorations in place!

Source: Slightly modified from Erika at Tasty Kitchen

75 comments:

Unknown said...

Good job, Chris! Looks absolutely delicious!!

Unknown said...

Tried out this recipe yesterday and I must say that it turned out delicious! Thanks for posting it!

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Nathan - Thanks for stopping by and letting us know that you enjoyed this recipe! I showed my husband and he was so excited :).

Unknown said...

My husband wants Me to try to make this so fingers crossed!

Jason said...

I made this the other day. The cheesecake part came out denser, darker than his looks and did not taste like cheesecake at all... I messed up somewhere but still delicious. Thank you

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Elizabeth - Good luck! If my husband was able to make this by himself, I have no doubt that you'll be successful, too. Let us know how it goes!

Jason - Bummer :(. Maybe your oven runs hot? Glad you were at least about to salvage it and enjoy the flavors.

Jrabbz said...

How do you put the cheesecake and the brownie together?

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Jrabbz - You bake the brownie crust first and then pour the cheesecake batter on top of the baked brownie for the final bake. Hope this helps!

Jrabbz said...

yes! that makes more sense, thank you:)

Unknown said...

What is a springform pan?

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Jonathan - A springform pan is a 2-piece baking pan that has a removable side and bottom. A fastener on the side uses tension (hence "spring") to hold everything together. I use and recommend this pan.

Unknown said...

Where might I get one. I live in Dardanelle Arkansas. And we dont have any of those that I have seen around here. But I really want to try this recipe out. I love any kind of baking and im good at it too.

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Jonathan - It's a fairly common baking pan. You can order it from Amazon using the link I provided above and in the recipe directions. Locally, you can probably find it somewhere like a Walmart, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael's, etc.

Good luck and let me know how it goes! An experienced baker like yourself should have no problems and I'd love if you shared your pic on my facebook page or email!

Unknown said...

Can I use a 10 in pan instead of the 9 inch?

Unknown said...

I'm making it as I type this. whole family is excited. Fingers crossed!

Unknown said...

I'll be making this for Easter !.....

Unknown said...

Extra ganache can be made into truffles...for future reference.

Unknown said...

Does he have any brothers? :) I can't wait to make this!

Anonymous said...

quick question - is the foil strictly to keep the water out, or should the entire cake be covered in foil?

Unknown said...

does anyone know if I can substitute the flour with gluten free flour?

Unknown said...

Ok I will be a little bit before I get around to it bc I have been so busy. But I will def post some pics for you

Unknown said...

Looks awesome

Unknown said...

Started mine tonight. Its cooling in the fridge as we speak :) Question tho.. my brownie crust seemed thicker than yours. Any idea on what I migjt of done wrong?

Anonymous said...

I was wanting to save a copy of this recipe for later use but you have made that impossible. I copy all recipes into my email and since you do not allow people to copy why even post the recipe.

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Faith - Yes you can use a 10" pan but will need to reduce the baking time since your cake will be thinner. Since I haven't tried this myself, I can't say how long, though.

Brenda - Great idea! I have a great truffle recipe here if you need one: http://christineskitchenchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/12/assorted-truffles.html

Bev - He does but you're about a month too late as his brother just got married ;). I posted a picture in my Hawaii post in February.

Karen - Yes the purpose of the foil is to keep the water from seeping into the pan. Cover with foil up to the top edge of the springform only.

Christina - A fan wrote and said that they substituted boxed gluten free brownie mix.

Tonya - Your baking soda/powder just might have been fresher than mine and I found that as it cools it sinks a bit.

Diann - Sorry but I had to disable the copy function on my blog due to some dishonest people saving my photos and claiming them as their own. I suggest you use the "Print Friendly" option to print the recipes. Scroll down to the bottom of the recipe and there's a green button that you can click. You can delete whatever content you don't want to print and then either save as a PDF, print, or email it.

Anonymous said...

I found this recipe on my Facebook homepage and want to surprise my boyfriend. Its our one month tomorrow.

Azalia D. said...

Christine,
I used your recipe and made this cheesecake. Thank you SO much for sharing it. It turned out perfect! Everyone loved it! :-) I will definitely make it again!
Azalia

mmmm, brains said...

WOW. I can't believe you stole my recipe and are pretending it is yours. Completely dishonest. I'm offended.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elfcakes/421215310/

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Mmm brains/Erika - I'm sorry but I think you are attacking the wrong person here. If you look at my citation you'll see I clearly put that you are the source (we did make minor modifications to your recipe, however, and noted as such). The photo used by Incredible Recipes is my own.

Unknown said...

Hello! By "whipping cream" do you mean whipped cream (like Cool Whip) or like a heavy cream liquid?

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Azalia - Thanks for letting me know how it went! If you happened to take a picture, you can email it to me or post to my facebook fan page where I will include it in a fan photo album.

Amanda - The liquid cream, NOT cool whip or other whipped toppings.

Unknown said...

Ooops! Well then I just messed up my cheese cake :(

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Amanda - It might still work...might as well bake it and find out!

Cool whip is a chemical version of real whipping cream and real whipping cream is sweetened liquid cream that has had a lot of air beaten into it. When it bakes, it melts back into liquid but you have less of it and is sweeter.

Unknown said...

I made it the Saturday before Easter, it was Fantastic and a huge hit! Thank you!

Unknown said...

Made this last night for my hubby's birthday today and I was really nervous about how it would turn out but it turned out great! Thank you so much for the great instructions, I followed them to a T and it turned out perfect!!

Kathleen Bartos said...

Can I use a different pan? Can I use a rectangular 9x13? And if so, do I cut the cheesecake recipe down?

Unknown said...

I would think that if you bake the brownie first and then pour the cheesecake on top and cook it, that the brownie part would be dry and maybe even burnt???? help?? could I just halfway bake the brownie part or what? how do you keep it from burning and how do you kee the chescake part from caving into the chocolate, and does the spring form pan go around the brownie part and the cheesecake part ? so confused lol

Unknown said...

I would think that if you bake the brownie first and then pour the cheesecake on top and cook it, that the brownie part would be dry and maybe even burnt???? help?? could I just halfway bake the brownie part or what? how do you keep it from burning and how do you kee the chescake part from caving into the chocolate, and does the spring form pan go around the brownie part and the cheesecake part ? so confused lol

Lara said...

The pan u have linked is a 10" I just used a deep 10" and I can't even imagine this fitting in a 9"!

Lara said...

Just follow the directions. It'll work out, otherwise they wouldn't have published this recipe! lol! You put the brownie in the bottom of the greased springform pan. Bake it. Add the chips and cheesecake and bake it. It doesn't cave, it doesn't burn.

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Emily - Sorry for the delay in response. Just do the double bake as written in the directions...it all works out! The springform does go around everything :).

Lara - Yeah Amazon won't let me link to a particular size but if you look closely, there's a 9" version and that's what we have! Somehow it fits but I've heard from readers that 10" works fine and gives some more wiggle room. Just remember to reduce your baking time!

Unknown said...

Just wondering what the Calorie content is on this?

Unknown said...

Omg can somebody just make it for me lol! :) naw but one day I am going to try :)

Stacey K said...

Can I use extra creamy peanut butter instead of regular smooth? I'm worried it won't bake up the same.

Unknown said...

This Is SSSSOOOOO Good I love it

Unknown said...

I've made this a few times now. Here's a great tip for an easy way to get off pan without having to heat........after I butter the pan....I put sugar in there to coat it and dump the excess. I never flour a pan...just sugar it! About to make another 10 -in one for a pig pickin this Saturday. Love this recipe and the blog!

Unknown said...

Not to be a downer, but you can still copy your images off of this site...you may want to talk to whoever disabled that for you, because you can still save the images on your computer..I tried it because I wanted to show my friends what I was going to make for Father's Day, and then read your posts here...But it looks dilicious and can't wait to try it this weekend!

Unknown said...

Making this for my fiances birthday right now. It looks so good already! I can't wait to see how it turns out. Thank you sooo much for the helpful instructions and recipe!(: will definitely be checking back for some more! Great job!(:

Unknown said...

OMG
I'm gona do it 4 next weekend!!!!
oñom :)

Unknown said...

OMG
I'm gona do it 4 next weekend!!!!
oñom :)

Unknown said...

OMG
I'm gona do it 4 next weekend!!!!
oñom :)

Unknown said...

I am planning on making this fir my fiance on his birthday in the 18th, I am so confused on how to wrap the pan with the aluminum foil though, any tips or pics would help (:

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Hi Patricia. Thanks for stopping by! To wrap the pan in foil you simply cut a large piece of foil from the roll then place the pan in the center of the foil. Pull the edges up and fold the foil so that it stays in place. The top remains uncovered. Basically you're just making sure that the seam where the springform pan side connects to the bottom is covered and prevents leaking of water into the pan. Hope this helps and let me know how it turns out!!

Anonymous said...

How many cups of unsweetened cocoa do u use?

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how many cups of unsweetened cocoa it takes?

brandy britt said...

omg!!! plzzzz send me a inbox of that recipe plzzzzzzz facebook in n.c.

Anonymous said...

would it be possible to use regular boxed brownie mix instead of making your own?

Erica C said...

oh my goodness I can't wait to make this this weekend! :) Thank you for sharing and having such specific directions that clearly describe exactly how and what to do! Peanut Butter and chocolate...can't go wrong with that. My whole family thanks you!

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Anonymous - 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder as per the ingredients list.

Brandy - At the bottom of the post you can hover over the orange "share" button and then click "email".

Anonymous - I have not tried it personally but one of my facebook fans said she substituted gluten free brownie mix and had it work out fine.

Erica - Thank you and glad you found the instructions to be clear. Hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we did! Please let us know how it goes!

Anonymous said...

Where can i buy this peanut butter chips?i cant find any fr the groceries here...or any alternative?hmnn..cant wait to try this one..looks soo yummy =)

Wayne Everts said...

I have not tasted this yet but I just finished putting the drizzle on mine. Looks delicious and very easy to make. When I taste it tonite I will let you know just how fantastic it is.

Anonymous said...

Great recipe. Thank you!

Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles said...

Anonymous - I used the Reese's peanut butter chips found in my local Kroger. But here's a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0005ZXBEM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0005ZXBEM&linkCode=as2&tag=chrisskitchch-20

Wayne - Hope it tasted as good as you'd hope! Feel free to send me your photo and I'll include it on our fan page!

CadyBug said...

I will try to make this in a couple of days for my husbands birthday. Fingers crossed that it turns out well. No guarantee he will give me the chance to try a piece though, it looks delicious. Normally with stuff he likes, he grabs a fork and runs to another room with it. How that man is a scrawny bean pole is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

I make this for my family on holidays and it is a must have now. They request this every time. SO GOOD!

Unknown said...

Who cares who's recipe it is? Its awesome, and Im glad I can try and make this beautiful creation.

Anonymous said...

I want to try this so bad .. will someone make this for me please.

Allena said...

Try the Kitchen Store on Locust St in Conway.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to try this chris wish me good luck.

Unknown said...

LOL! I think that if you put the peanut butter cups on facing out next time their shape will lend to the curvature of the cake much better and you may even be able to get in at least one more. As if you need it! I can't WAIT to try this! I think I gained 5 pounds just looking at the photo!!! LOL Thanks for sharing! :-D

Unknown said...

Can I use a 9x13 pan to make this? If so what would I have to do to the recipe?

Anonymous said...

Ashame your married

Anonymous said...

When you decrease one ingredient in a recipe,you must decrease everything else equally! My 'drizzle' didn't drizzle because I did not read the original recipe and you changed the amount of whipping cream in the decoration drizzle recipe and I followed that. It was more like frosting that, when cooled, turned into a hard chocolate block.

Nicole J said...

I just finished this pie tonight and my boyfriend and I love it!! I followed the recipe exactly, using a boxed brownie mix to save a little time, and it came out pure perfection. Thank you so much, we have a new family favorite!

Daniel & Layla said...

Making this with my 4 year old daughter as we speak. Definitely the most involved baking I've ever done - everything seems to be going well though *knocks on wood*. Just heating some water before it goes in the oven again!