I’ve been missing from all social media and even this website for a while, posting maybe a recipe a week or so. But if you’ve been thinking I’ve quit: You’re wrong!
I’m still baking and making and creating, and photographing and editing and writing.
Just a lot less than before.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock at this point you must have heard at least about ChatGPT. We’re living through an era of artificial intelligence renaissance of sorts y’all (in fact we have been for at least 5 years or so) and as a person who have been in AI research for 20 years, I’m fascinated. Work has consumed everything.
In fact at this point, I’m not sure if I should keep making recipes or just let an LLM (large language model) spit them out :’)
Well, hopefully there’s still some human touch that’s necessary and I sure love to meditate on this creative process.
Well, of all the baking adventures of late, here’s the one I’m most proud of. I made these brownie “cheesecake” bars, (mini-batch of course) and I made them with no cream cheese, whaaaat.
Yep I made them with greek yogurt and they were somehow indistinguishable from regular cheesecake. Creamy, thick, full of flavor.
Now I want you all to experience the same. Let me know how it goes!
PS. I haven’t tried this but I’m 99% sure you can make these with plant-based dairy-free yogurt alternatives. Just make sure it’s greek style (thick and strained) and you should be good. Maybe we should ask ChatGPT š
Mini-batch Brownie Yogurt Cheesecake
Equipment
- Small baking pan or muffin pan
Ingredients
Brownie layer
- 2 tbsp (plant) butter, melted (28 g)
- 2 tbsp sugar (24 g)
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (12 g)
- pinch of salt
- drop of vanilla
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp flour (15 g) gf all purpose if desired
- 1 tbsp (optional) chocolate chips (15 g)
Yogurt "cheesecake" layer
- 1/3 cup thick greek yogurt, or plant-based alternative (85 g) has to be thick and strained
- 1 tbsp nut/seed butter (16 g) the flavor is mild but use almond/cashew butter for a more neutral taste, you can also sub (df) cream cheese
- 2 tbsp sugar (24 g)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch (7 g) flour might also work
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a small baking pan with parchment (or use muffin liners). I'll link to the pans I use in the recipe notes.
- In a bowl add your butter and microwave 30 sec to melt, let it cool a minute.
- Add sugar, cocoa, vanilla, salt and whisk (or fork) until blended smooth. Add flour and baking powder and stir to combine. (Optional) stir in chocolate chips. If your batter ends up being too thick (it should be like chocolate cookie dough) add a tsp of water. Spread the batter into the pan, set aside. We will bake the two layers together at once.
- In a bowl add all cheesecake ingredients and whisk (or fork) to combine until very smooth. You can use a hand mixer too.
- Pour the cheesecake batter on top the unbaked brownie layer and bake 20-30 minutes until mostly set around the corners with a slight wobbly center.
- Let this cool completely, cover and refrigerate a few hours, ideally overnight.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- I used Fage 0% for this recipe, but it will work with any greek or greek-style yogurt. I tried this with Kite Hill plain greek-style yogurt and it was perfect.
- Here are the 3.75 x 5 inch pans I like to use for my mini-batch bar recipes. You can use any small pan and slice differently, or use muffin tins and make 4 single-serving cups.
- If you want a “really lightened up” treat, here’s an alternative brownie layer:
- 1 tbsp nut/seed butter (16 g)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (21 g)
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder (6 g)
- 1 1/2 tbsp flour (10 g)
- 1/8 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, drop of vanilla
- 1 tsp or so water / (nut) milk if needed to thin the batter to brownie batter consistency
- (optional) 1 tbsp chocolate chips (15 g)
Is there a step missing between baking the brownie layer and adding the cheesecake layer?
Hi Eva – No! both layers will be baked together at once for simplicity! Is that what you meant? I emphasized this in the instructions. Let me know how this turns out for you!
This is such a great recipe! I used oat flour for the brownie and it turned out great! I make a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving so I decided to try a pumpkin variation by adding 2 tbsp (30g) pumpkin purĆ©e and 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice to the cheesecake batter. It was also fantastic. I would love to make a larger version in a 9×5 loaf pan. What would you recommend to scale the recipe up?
Hi Karissa, I’m so happy you love this recipe and played around with it, it’s one of my favs too! I need to make the pumpkin cheesecake version ASAP š and absolutely yes to scaling up. I would reduce baking temp for baking the cheesecake and bake for longer for a more even bake. In a larger pan you might risk having the center still gooey and the edges over baking a bit. Maybe try 250-300F and increase baking time to 40-60 minutes. Let me know if you try this! <3