Brownie Cheesecake (YUM)

What better way to start a "health-conscious" blog than with delicious, sugary, empty calories? Of course, whenever I think about food, one of the first flavors to come to mind is ALWAYS chocolate. So, I deigned to make something delicious, cheap, and moderately impressive, depending on how much time you decide to spend on the decorations. You will need:

1 box of your favorite brownie mix, already mixed up (or homemade brownies, whatever)
2 packages of neufchatel cheese or cream cheese
1/2 cup of fine sugar
2 eggs (not including the eggs you used in the brownies. Keep up, kids.)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon

First, you make the brownie base. Grease a 9" circular pan (I used glass, but whatever you prefer for your brownies works too) and set it aside. Then, preheat your oven to whatever your brownie box says. You didn't throw it away, did you? Anyway, I used Duncan Hines "fudgy" brownies, so I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F. And now comes one of the best parts: pour about 1/2 of the brownie mix into the pan, until about 1/3 of the pan is filled. EAT THE REST OF THE BROWNIE MIX. Nom nom nom. Cook the brownies for about fifteen minutes.

While they cook, beat together everything else. The order really doesn't matter. And don't do it by hand, you'll just hurt yourself. After the brownies are done cooking, let them cool for about five to ten minutes, and then pour it on top of the cooked brownie. There shouldn't be any cream cheese/neufchatel left over, but DON'T overfill the pan. It's better to save it and cook it later, or eat it raw or something.

Anyway, let all of that cook for about thirty to forty five minutes. It'll puff up, but don't worry, it'll look like cheesecake again soon. Relax!

After it's done and out of the oven, strategically toss some chocolate chips onto the baked cheesecake. In about a minute, they'll be soft, and you can swirl them around. Mine looked pretty bamf, as you can see. This is where the impressive factor comes in. Be impressive!

So, let it chill, cut it apart, take a bow. I'm going to stick it in the fridge for about thirty minutes because I'm the impatient type, but really it should chill for two hours. So, altogether, it takes about 10 minutes of actual cooking and 3 hours of waiting around. Enjoy!