I spend almost every day in the kitchen, it’s my happy place. Now let me tell you that this recipe for Browned Butter Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies are INSANE. The browned butter in the brownie makes them so rich, fudgy, flavorful and just irresistible.

The pumpkin cheesecake layer is smooth, fluffy, creamy, perfectly spiced and pairs flawlessly with the brownie underneath.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies | The Squeaky Mixer

The brownie batter for this recipe is very thick so don’t be alarmed when you go to transfer the batter to the prepared pan and it’s hard to spread. I found it easiest to use an offset spatula to slowly work the batter evenly across my pan. You can also use cooking spray to lightly grease the back of a spoon or silicone spatula to keep the dough form sticking and to help distribute it in your pan.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownie Layers

The brownie layer has that subtle nutty flavor from the browned butter but is hit with a rich decadence from the semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder. The texture of these brownies are perfectly dense and fudgy. The cheesecake layer contains pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice so the balance of earthy pumpkin from the puree and kick from the spice is just delicious. And together they make a super brownie. Win, win.

When it comes to mixing the brownie batter, I recommend using a whisk for the dry ingredients, then switching to a silicone spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Using a whisk for that step would result in an arm workout that no one would consider fun.

For mixing the cheesecake layer, the most important step is whipping up the room temperature cream cheese by itself first. This will ensure that there are no lumps of cream cheese when it comes time to mix in all of the other ingredients.

Baking Your Cheesecake Brownies

Because this is not your average cheesecake, you do not need to worry about a water bath. The cheesecake is more stable because the layer is thinner than if you were baking a standard size, larger cheesecake. You can tap your pan on the counter a few times before baking to reduce your chances of bubbles forming on the top and browning during baking.

When it comes time to take your pumpkin cheesecake brownies out of the oven, give the pan a little jiggle. If the cheesecake layer on top seems to respond to the jiggle by jiggling right back and showing ripples of liquid then you need to keep it in the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes. If there is a slight, subtle jiggle in the pan, that’s okay and they can be removed from the oven.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

5 from 4 votes

Recipe by Maddison Koutrouba – thesqueakymixer.com

Servings

servings

Cooking time

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on.

Ingredients

1/2 cup 1/2 unsalted butter, browned
4 oz. 4 semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 tsp. 2 vanilla extract
1 tsp. 1 espresso powder
1/2 tsp. 1/2 salt
3/4 cups 3/4 granulated sugar
1/4 cup 1/4 light brown sugar, packed
2 2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup 1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup 1/2 all-purpose flour
Pumpkin Cheesecake Layer
1 8 oz. 1 block cream cheese, room temperature
1 1 egg
3/4 cups 3/4 pumpkin puree
1/2 cup 1/2 granulated sugar
1/4 cup 1/4 all-purpose flour
2 tsp. 2 pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. 2 vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease and line an 8″ x 8″ square pan with parchment paper overhanging on two of the sides for an easy removal later on. Set aside.
In a small pot, brown the butter. To do this, place the butter in the pot over medium heat. Keep the butter over the heat until it begins to bubble. Swirl the pot over the heat every minute or so. Once the bottom of the pot is light golden brown in color and the smell of the butter has turned nutty, remove it from the heat.
Add in the chopped chocolate to the melted butter and mix until all of the chocolate is melted and the mixture is nice and smooth.
Add in the vanilla, espresso powder, an salt to the butter mixture. Continue to mix then set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together both sugars until well combined. Add the chocolate butter mixture to the bowl of sugars and whisk until everything is nice and evenly combined. Then add in the eggs one at a time mixing between each addition. Set aside.
In a separate, small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and flour. Then use a silicone spatula to fold the flour mixture into the chocolate, sugar mixture. Mix until there are no lumps and the batter is nice and evenly combined. Set this aside.
To make the pumpkin cheesecake layer, begin by using an electric mixer and beat the cream cheese on medium to high speed until it is nice and whipped and creamy and there are no lumps.
Add the remaining ingredients to the whipped cream cheese and beat on low speed until everything is nicely combined and there are no lumps. Mix for about 2 full minutes to ensure that there are no small lumps of cream cheese. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula to ensure that everything is combining evenly.
Transfer the brownie batter to the prepared pan and use an offset spatula or silicone spatula to distribute the batter evenly in the pan. Be as accurate as possible when evening out the batter to ensure that the layer is as level as possible.
Pour the pumpkin cheesecake batter on top of the brownie batter and use an offset spatula to spread it around evenly. Similar to the brownie batter layer, spread the cheesecake layer as evenly as you can in your pan.
Bake these for 35-40 minutes or until the center of the cheesecake does not jiggle a lot when the pan is tapped. If there is a small subtle jiggle – that is okay.
Allow the brownies to cool in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight before removing from the pan or slicing.
Slice into even squares and enjoy!