I obviously don’t have a kid that started school this week, but I am going absolutely gaga for the adorable pictures flooding my social media of my friends’ kids in their crisp new outfits and cute backpacks. Is anyone else super nostalgic for the first day of school? Man did I used to love it. School supply shopping, a new special outfit, an exciting year of new classes and friends. I was the biggest dork and I absolutely loved school. Andy, however, wasn’t always such a fan, so who knows how little Hugo will feel about it a few years from now. (Oh my even thinking of that day makes me excited all over again!)

One of the things that makes me most excited to be a Mama of a will-go-to-school-somday child, is the thought of packing his little lunches. I have been oh so inspired by my friend Annie’s beautiful and well rounded school lunch series. She’s been sharing what she packs for her son on Instagram and it’s amazing. I love how even though the majority of the meal is very healthy, there is always one little treat in there. A mini cookie, some homemade caramel corn, and there was even a homemade S’more one day. That got me thinking of other cute bite-sized lunchbox treats and the idea of these cheesecake bites came to be.

Yes they contain sugar, but I think setting as example of everything being OK in moderation is a good rule of thumb don’t you? These bite-sized beauties are the perfect size to give just a little sweet-tooth satisfaction and are bound to please any chocoholic out there. The brownie is super fudgy, and the swirl of cheescake puts them over the top.

I made these over Labor Day weekend and shared them with my neighbors and friends at a fun weekend cookout. They were a huge hit and if I said that everyone stopped at one I’d be lying…but I did my part to help with portion control you know? I can’t stop anyone from having 5! And even though summer may officially be over, these would be a great bite-sized treat for a football party this weekend don’t you think?? (Go Pack Go!)

Cheesecake Swirl Brownie Bites

Yield: 24 Brownie Bites

Ingredients

For the brownie portion:

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
heaping 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

For the Cheesecake Portion:

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 egg yolk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a mini-muffin tin and set aside.

For the Brownies:

In a medium-sized glass bowl set on top of a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir together until smooth.
Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk in until smooth. Stir in the vanilla.
Sprinkle the sea salt, flour and baking powder over the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth and well-combined but don't over-mix.

For the Cheesecake Batter:

Beat together the softened cream cheese with the egg yolk and sugar until super smooth and clump free.

To Assemble:

Fill a pastry bag with the cheesecake batter and cut a small opening at the tip. Fill each muffin well 1/2 way full of brownie batter. Pipe a layer of cheesecake batter on top of the brownie, and then add another large dollop of brownie batter. Use a skewer or toothpick to swirl the batters together. (The batter can reach just about the top of the well, but not above it.)
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Notes

Brownie Recipe adapted from: Smitten Kitchen Cheesecake Recipe adapted from: Just A Taste

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

14 Comments

Wow! All good things in moderation oooorrrr eat A LOT of these then make up for it with lots of kale afterwards!

Brownie bites are the best. These look fabulous!

Thanks for the sweet mention girl! It is such an awesome thing to watch your child grow and start going to school. Incredible! It will be so exciting when it comes for you and I’m sure Hugo will love the lunches you make! I’ll definitely have to give these a try for the lunch boxes soon, I know the kids will love them! And I’ll have to pack some for myself since I’m back to work now as well :)

I loved school too! Buying all the school supplies was the best. These look delicious by the way :)

I love brownie bites, and these look almost to good to be true! Yum! :)

Packing a lunch box, oh my. That does sound exciting. These look absolutely lovely Audra. I think you will be better at moderation that I was.

i LOVE these! Combining my two favourites, cheesecake and brownies = awesome! I also love the mini portions, so cute for a dinner party!

I love bite-size anything and these little babies look super decadent and delicious! I’ve never tried combining brownie and cheesecake and now I can’t wait to give this recipe a go!

xo, Elisa

I used to LOVE getting a whole new set of school supplies every year (even if I didn’t need em). And all the baked treats that went along with back to school goodness. These looks awesome – brownies AND cheesecake!?

I definitely agree with your everything in moderation mentality! And honestly, I’d much rather my kid be eating sweets that I made instead of some crap the school lunch serves. These are adorable. I would probably eat more than five.

I just made these according to the recipe and now I’m extremely sad. They taste great, but you forgot to mention they stick to the muffin tin like glue, despite how well the cups are greased. Even the greased knife trick didn’t work. 350 degrees is too hot for these little guys. Thanks for the idea, though. I’ll use them to make brownie cheesecake pops so they don’t go to waste.