Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

If desserts were football, who would win the Superbowl: brownies or chocolate chip cookies? 
Brownies seduce you from the first dizzying perfume they give off as they bake to the last caress of tender crumbs on your lips. They are edible magnets of …

If desserts were football, who would win the Superbowl: brownies or chocolate chip cookies? 

Brownies seduce you from the first dizzying perfume they give off as they bake to the last caress of tender crumbs on your lips. They are edible magnets of melted chocolate mixed with just enough ingredients to give them some form. Brownies are winners for sure. 

But chocolate chip cookies! Mmmm. Buttery and tender, with a compelling crisp edge and oozy half-melted, half-firm chocolate melting on your tongue. Aren’t they the champions of all cookies, outshining all others? The classic you call on when you want to be on top of your game?

At a bake sale, which outsells the other, brownies or chocolate chip cookies?

If you serve either or both, brownies or chocolate chip cookies, are any left over and if so, which ones?

Maybe it’s time to find out. Serve both on Superbowl Sunday. Or on Valentine’s Day. Or anytime. Here’s a recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies. But there’s another recipe for classic fudge brownies here and click on the link above for a recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies ever. 

Then let me know which won.

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup butter

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped nuts

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Put the chocolate and butter together in the top part of a double boiler set over barely simmering water. Stir 3 to 4 minutes or until the chocolate has melted. When the butter and chocolate have melted and are blended, stir in 2 cups sugar and 3 eggs. Whisk ingredients thoroughly.

Add the flour, salt, nuts and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and stir in the ingredients with a large wooden spoon. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla until thoroughly blended. Place blobs of the cream cheese mixture over the top of the chocolate batter. Cut through the cheese, making swirls and designs with the chocolate.

Bake about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool. Cut into bars with a sharp knife dipped into hot water. Refrigerate brownies. Makes 32 to 40 brownies.

So which wins the Superbowl of desserts, brownies or chocolate chip cookies?