Welcome back guest chef, Carol E.
The Very Famous Cheesecake Brownies from Disney’s Boardwalk Bakery are next up for our DIY Disney Recipe series!
As Disney fans know, the BoardWalk Bakery in Disney World was closed earlier this year for refurbishment. Since we couldn’t have bakery date nights for a while, I was happy to find the recipe for Boardwalk Bakery’s very famous Cheesecake Brownies in the Delicious Disney Desserts cookbook to help get us through!
Now with the grand reopening, I thought it would be fun to share this recipe with you! (Be sure to check out AJ’s FULL REVIEW of the new BoardWalk Bakery here!)
Here’s what the new Cheesecake Brownie looks like now…they made it a tad bit more gourmet!
Just a heads up, this recipe is super easy to make, but it is a make ahead recipe. There’s a lot of baking time required and it really needs to sit in the fridge overnight in order to chill down enough to serve!
Brownie Ingredients
Serves 12
-2 cups sugar
-1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
-2/3 cup cocoa powder
-1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
-1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
-5 eggs
-2 sticks butter, melted
-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cheesecake Ingredients
-3/4 cup of sugar
-3 tbsp corn starch
-4 8-ounce boxes of cream cheese
-1 tbsp lemon juice
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-2 eggs
-2 tbsp heavy cream
-2 tbsp sour cream
By the way, you are about to learn how to make homemade brownies from scratch…you will never need a box mix again!!
Brownies Directions
Let’s get started on the brownies:
Step 1: Prepare Ingredients
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
-Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
Step 2: Combine the wet and dry ingredients.
-Beat flour mixture and eggs on low speed using an electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally and mixing until smooth.
-Slowly add melted butter and beat until just combined; do not overmix.
-Fold in chocolate chips with a spatula. Do not use the mixer for this portion.
Step 3: Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan.
Step 4: Transfer batter to prepared baking pan and bake. About 30 minutes.
-Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Cheesecake Directions
At this point, it’s time to move onto the Cheesecake batter…I can tell you that it is super hard to take the pan of freshly made brownies out of the oven and set them aside to cool instead of cutting into the delicious, amazingly perfect brownies that have your entire house smelling like a chocolate shop. BUT, set them aside to cool and finish the recipe. I promise you, the full recipe is worth not giving up half way through just to enjoy your brownies! 😉
Let’s get started on the cheesecake:
Step 1: Prepare Ingredients
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Cream sugar, cornstarch, and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowl to mix in all of the ingredients.
-Add lemon juice and vanilla extract, mixing thoroughly.
-Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl with each addition and continuing to mix thoroughly with mixer.
-Fold in heavy cream and sour cream with a spatula. Do not use the mixer for this portion.
Step 2: Spread batter on top of already baked brownies.
Step 3: Bake until cheesecake is lightly browned and firm, about 55-60 minutes. The edges will lightly brown and the center stays pretty white…don’t wait until the entire top lightly browns or the pan of brownies and cheesecake will be overcooked.
-Cool completely. It will actually start to deflate as it cools!
Step 4: Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Because this dessert is soooo thick and dense, I found it better to leave it in the fridge overnight before serving.
To serve, cut it into fancy triangles or squares and serve with whipped cream and chocolate sauce…Enjoy!!!
Seriously, we just learned how to make homemade brownies from scratch AND homemade cheesecake from scratch. Individually these recipes are gold, but together this is the most amazing dessert on all of earth! 😉 I mean come on….brownies + cheesecake= AWESOME!!!
Cheesecake brownies make a great birthday cake or a “let’s plan our next trip to Disney” treat or “Today is Monday” treat… It’s actually perfect for just about anything! This dessert is so good that you may not ever be allowed to bring something else to the family potluck ever again…just get ready for the royal treatment, because you’ll soon be famous after making and sharing this dessert!
A Few Lessons I Learned
As with all recipes, you usually find helpful ways to make it easier to make them. This section is filled with helpful hints that I learned while making this recipe and doing research on some of the ingredients! I hope they help you, too!
-If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to cream your ingredients for the cheesecake! That way you don’t have to constantly try to get all the ingredients unstuck from the whisk attachment!!!
–Creaming your sugar, cornstarch, and cream cheese means combining ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Basically you whip the ingredients together until they are completely mixed.
–If you don’t have a sifter, use a fork to mash out all the clumps and combine all ingredients together in the brownie dry mix BEFORE adding any liquid ingredients. Otherwise you’ll have pockets of dry mix in your brownies after baking.
-You’ll want to make sure you add the brownie and cheesecake mixtures to the pan evenly for consistent cooking AND consistent size slices when you go to serve. Make sure all edges and the middle are spread out pretty evenly throughout the pan.
-To cut perfect edges, use a large, sharp knife and run the blade under very hot water for each slice you make. It will give you perfect, restaurant worthy slices every time!
Do you love the BoardWalk Bakery’s Cheesecake Brownie too? Let us know in the comments below!
Asuka says
Thanks so much for this recipe! My boyfriend loves cheesecake and his birthday is coming up. I’ll have to make him this. 😀
Niki M says
Yum! and your plate presentation is beautiful!
Essie says
My goodness, you’re going to make all of us so fat! I made homemade brownies once and like a fool I didn’t copy the recipe off of the Hershey’s cocoa can, thinking they would have it on every can they sell (after all they were unbelievably good, weren’t they?). I’ve never found the recipe again, not even on their website or in their cookbook. 🙁 Well, brownies are like any other baked goods; when you make them homemade, they are un-be-liev-ably WONDERFUL! I’ve also made homemade cheesecake. You know that I’m going to make this when my Disney friends and I get together again! Thanks so much!
MistyR says
I made these last night and they turned out terrible. I bake a lot and followed the recipe exactly. The cheesecake part was pretty good, but the brownie part was extremely dry and stuck in the pan. I guess it takes Disney Magic to make brownies moist after and hour and 1/2 in the oven.
Cherie says
I also made them and followed the recipe. The cheesecake part was great, but the brownie part was extremely dry. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should we only cook brownies until they are almost done….maybe for only 20 minutes???
Leslie says
I had wondered about whether cooking the brownies this much would create a dryness issue. If you want to try this recipe again, I have a couple of thoughts. First, you can add a heaping tablespoon or so of sour cream to the brownie mix at the end. Another thought is that instead of melted butter, just use softened butter. I always used softened instead of melted butter when baking.
I’m going to try this recipe for nutella cheesecake brownies – http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2007/02/nutella-cheesecake-brownies.html
The comments from those who tried it are very positive; my guess is that it’s partly because it was all cooked at the same time. You won’t get the traditional cheesecake texture with this one though. . .
Carol E. says
Hey Misty, Cherie and Leslie…I followed the recipe exactly to make this post and the brownies were ridiculously moist almost like fudge…here’s a few suggestions:
-Did you let the brownies cool completely before adding the cheesecake layer?
-Did you very generously oil your pan?
-Maybe think about trying a glass dish to bake?
-Did you notice the temperature change for the oven to 325 when you cook the cheesecake portion?
-Did you leave in fridge COVERED over night before serving? The condensation stays in and allows the whole dish to stay very nice and moist.
I think all of these little pieces together make a huge difference. I’m sorry they didn’t turn out as well for you…I’m definitely not a pro, which is why I love these recipes…if they don’t turn out for me, I won’t post them. Also, if I learn anything along the way that may be helpful, I add it to the list at the end…
Hope that helps!
Carol E. says
Thanks Essie- the best dishes aren’t hip friendly;)
Niki M- thank you for your very kind words!!! I worked really hard on the presentation;)
Asuka- have fun making them! They are delish!!!
Rachel says
Made these today, and despite having left the brownie part out overnight uncovered, they were incredibly fudgy and moist. The cooling and fridge time are key, I think. The only deviation from the recipe as given was that I always put a pan of water in the oven when making cheesecake, so I did so here as well.
Carol E. says
Rachel- thanks for sharing!! Great tip!
Martha P says
I made these for a soldier returning home & recipe failed my expectations. I have several ideas to improve the recipe however, do not think I will invest that much money to experiment! A chocolate crumb crusted cheesecake would have a better success.