Stracciatella Cheesecake Brownies; smooth and creamy chocolate-speckled baked cheesecake on a bed of rich fudgy brownie.
One of the best flavours that my new home has introduced me to is stracciatella.
Think of it as chocolate-chip’s more refined cousin. The one that goes to a posh gym and pays too much for her hair colour.
Somewhat confusingly for us non-Italians, stracciatella is also a kind of cheese, and a bloody good one at that. If you’re ever in Puglia, please eat it in abundance. It’s also the name given to a kind of egg-based soup from the region that Rome is in.
The name translates, more or less, to “little shreds” or “little scraps.” With regard to the cheese, the name refers to the shreds of firmer cheese curds that swim in the impossibly luscious cream around it. When speaking about the soup, it refers to the torn up scrambled eggs that beef-up the broth. As you may have now already understood, when thinking about stracciatella as a gelato flavour, those little shreds are tiny shards of dark chocolate suspended in the milk gelato base.
It’s a flavour I can rarely resist, both when visiting gelato shops and in the years when I worked behind the scenes making the stuff. It’s fresher than straight-up chocolate, and far more texturally enticing than vanilla or fior di latte. Being honest, it’s also just very pretty.
These stracciatella cheesecake brownies aren’t the first stracciatella-themed treats here on Maverick Baking. Over the years I’ve also shared a recipe for Stracciatella Semifreddo, a super simple no-bake Stracciatella Cheesecake, and some cute Stracciatella Cupcakes.
While these bars contain both eggs and cheese, just like the similarly named Southern Italian foodstuffs above, I promise this recipe refers to the chocolate-flecked stracciatella.
A gorgeously dark and fudgy chocolate brownie, bold enough to act as a sturdy base, yet smooth enough to melt in each bite. Soft and creamy baked ricotta cheesecake, speckled with fragments of chopped dark chocolate. It’s a subtle yet satisfying treat, sure to please most palates.
These stracciatella cheesecake brownies are also perfect for this time of year. Where those warmer and more humid afternoons have you thinking about something refreshing, yet the chilly evenings still make you crave sweet comfort.
You will need a little bit of patience to make them. While they don’t require much hands-on time or kitchen know-how (hardly any at all actually) they do need a bit of a wait to bake and chill properly. A slow cooking time and a long sit in the fridge will give you the best results for these stracciatella cheesecake brownies.
If you like this kind of recipe, feel free to make it even fancier with this patisserie-inspired Vanilla Cheesecake Brownie from a few years ago. Also, for this one, as with all recipes, I’d always recommend baking with the best quality chocolate that you can afford. It’s always a worthwhile investment for bakers, and a very easy way to make all your chocolatey desserts taste even better!
Want to save these stracciatella cheesecake brownies for later? You can pin the image below.
To make these stracciatella cheesecake brownies, simply follow the recipe below!
Ingredients
For the brownie base:
- 125g (4 ½ oz) dark chocolate
- 115g (7 ½ tbsp) salted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 125g (rounded ½ cup) caster sugar
- 35g (¼ cup) plain flour
- 30g (¼ cup) cocoa powder
For the baked stracciatella cheesecake:
- 300g (11 oz) cream cheese
- 300g (11 oz) ricotta cheese
- 200g (1 cup) sour cream, creme fraiche or Greek yoghurt
- 3 large eggs
- 125g (rounded ½ cup) caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 40g dark chocolate, finely chopped (plus extra for sprinkling on top to decorate)
Instructions
For the brownie base:
- Preheat your oven – 160°C / 140°C fan / 325°F / gas mark 3.
- Grease and line a tin to bake the bars in, both 20x20cm (8x8in) or 20x30cm (8x12in) tins have worked well for me.
- Chop up your butter and dark/milk chocolate and melt together gently in a heatproof bowl, either in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water, until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, egg yolk, and sugar until just combined.
- Once melted, pour the butter/chocolate mixture into the bowl of egg mixture and whisk to incorporate.
- Add in the flour and cocoa, and gently fold together with a spoon or spatula until just combined.
- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Meanwhile make your cheesecake mixture!
For the baked stracciatella cheesecake:
- Place all the cheesecake ingredients except for the chocolate into a large bowl and whisk well until completely smooth and combined.
- Stir through the chopped chocolate pieces.
- Remove the tin of part-baked brownie base from the oven and pour the cheesecake mixture on top, smoothing it out evenly if necessary.
- Bake in the oven for a further 40-50 minutes until just set in the middle, there should still be just a little bit of wobble if you shake the tin.
- Once baked, turn off the oven and cool the cheesecake inside it with the door ajar for at least 1 hour, or until completely cool.
- When cooled, chill the cheesecake in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Sprinkle some more chopped dark chocolate over the cheesecake.
- Slice up and enjoy!
BE A MAVERICK: why not drop some fresh raspberries into the cheesecake topping before baking for a tangy twist?
These stracciatella cheesecake brownies will keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days but are best enjoyed fresh from the fridge after slicing!
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