Cream Cheese Brownies (and a winner!)

Thank you all who entered the Tate's Bake Shop giveaway. You all had some great tips. I'm excited to implement them into my cookie baking.

The winner (random drawing by my three year old...and yes, your name was in there twice if you followed on facebook) is.....Mandy (the second) with a cookie making tip: "My best tip is to follow your recipes exactly". (Ah Shucks. I'm blushing). So Mandy, please email me (bradleykitchen@comcast.net) with your address and I will forward it on to Tate's who will get your cookies and cookbook right to you!

We made these Cream Cheese Brownies from the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook. They were delicious, yet quite simple to make. I would imagine you would find most (if not all) of the ingredients in your kitchen right now. The brownie is rich and fudgy, and the cheesecake swirl adds just the perfect amount of tang. Definitely a recipe to bookmark.

Cream Cheese Brownies
(makes 16 brownies)
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup (salted) butter, softened to room temperature (I only had unsalted, so I added an extra pinch of salt)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with aluminum foil so that the foil extends two inches beyond the sides of the pan. (This creates handles you can use to remove the brownies later.) Spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
Melt the chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat. Set it aside to cool.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and 1/4 cup of the sugar until they are smooth. Beat in one egg and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until they are combined. Set it aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar until they are combined. Beat in the remaining 3 eggs, one at a time. Beat in the remaining 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Mix in the melted chocolate. On low speed, beat in the flour and salt until the are just combined.
Scrape all but 1 cup of the chocolate batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out evenly. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the chocolate mixture. Spoon the remaining chocolate mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Pull a table knife through the layers of batter with a light lifting motion in a zigzag pattern to create a marbleized look.
Bake it for 50 minutes.
Set the pan on a wire rack and cool the brownies in the pan. When the brownies are completely cool, remove them using the aluminum foil handles.
Cut them into squares. (You can refrigerate them first for ease of cutting. Wetting your knife also helps give you a clean cut.)

For all of you that didn't win, stay tuned for another fun giveaway later this month. And don't forget to use to the promo code "COOKIE" on the Tate's website for your discount!