Sourdough Dessert – Cheesecake Brownies
Rich and delicious sourdough brownies with cheesecake swirls. Perfect for any time of year for any sourdough bakers. This is a sweet sourdough discard recipe you will want to try out. The only thing I love more than sourdough bread is a sourdough dessert. If you have a sweet tooth and a hankering for something decadent, I have just the recipe for you!
Lately, I have been on a sourdough kick. It is a wonderful way to make homemade bread. Along with that has come sourdough bread, sourdough pancakes, and lots and lots of sourdough discard recipes. it is a perfect way (my favorite way) to use that discard is in sourdough discard dessert recipes. I found a few recipes for sourdough brownies but I just couldn’t find the perfect one. So I dug through my fridge and pantry and made up my mind that I was going to make some sourdough cheesecake brownies!
If you don’t have your own sourdough starter yet, and want to learn more about wild yeast be sure to check out my ultimate guide here!
Sourdough “discard” is an unfed sourdough starter. We all know sourdough starters love to eat. But when we don’t use it at its peak time, it turns into what is called “discard”. You have to get rid of some unfed starters because if you don’t it will only get bigger and bigger.
I knew this would be a great way to use up some chocolate chips and some of my sourdough starter discard. Using up your discarded sourdough starter is a way to cut down on food waste. This great recipe only took one hour to whip up.
Here is what you will need!
-Sourdough discard
-Water
-All-purpose flour
-Cocoa powder
-Butter
-Eggs
-Vanilla extract
-Salt
-Chocolate chips ( I used milk and white)
-Cream cheese
-White Sugar (brown sugar will work too)
You can swap out the butter if you don’t have any on hand for vegetable oil or coconut oil. Just know it will affect the results of your brownie base.
Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before you start!
You’ll want three bowls. One for your dry ingredients, only for the cream cheese mixture, and one for the wet ingredients.
Also, you will need either an 8×8 pan or you can even use a pie plate. Whatever you have on hand that is roughly the same size will work.
First, you will want to take a large bowl and mix your melted butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and sourdough discard. In a separate bowl add your salt, flour, and cocoa powder. Mix the two together
In another bowl add your cream cheese, sugar, egg white, salt, and vanilla. Mix with a hand or stand mixer.
Grease your baking pan. Add half of the chocolate brownie batter covering the pan.
Add your chocolate chips.
Dollop the cream cheese batter and chocolate brownie batter for the final layer of your dessert.
Take a toothpick or knife and swirl the brownie and cream cheese mixture.
Bake time can depend on your oven but roughly 36-40 mins at 350.
Let it completely cool before cutting.
This is a delicious way to make brownies. It is one of the best sourdough discard recipes.
Sourdough dessert recipes are my favorite to make. When I have an extra sourdough starter or extra sourdough discard it is so easy to transform your traditional recipes.
On a snowy day..
I came up with this recipe on a snowy cold day in March. Here on the East coast, our winters are long and it seemed like a good day to eat our feelings. I thought of all the delicious dessert recipes I had tried and made but pound cake and an over-done cookie recipe just weren’t going to cut it. We put on our thinking caps and looked around at what ingredients we had. I looked over at my overfed sourdough starter. I didn’t get a chance to make the two loaves of bread I had planned so what was once a bubbly ready-to-use starter had turned into a sad flat blob. Not all was lost, I’m becoming a big believer that nothing should ever go to waste so sourdough brownies was a perfect sweet way to redeem my sad starter.
Brownies just felt too blah so I looked at what else I could use to jazz it up. Pecans? walnuts? no… Cream cheese? Cheesecake! yes. That was it. So that is how this recipe came to pass. I really cannot decide if the brownie or the cheesecake is the best part. You let me know which is yours!
Sourdough Brownie Cheesecake-Discard Recipe
Ingredients
Sourdough Brownie base
- 1/4 cup Sourdough discard
- 1/2 cup Butter melted
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup Cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup Flour
Middle layer
- 1/4 cup Chocolate Chips Milk or White
Cheesecake Swirl
- 8 oz Cream Cheese Room Temp
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 350. Prepare glass pie tin or 8×8 pan. Grease pan or line with parchment paper.
- Add sourdough discard, sugar, eggs, butter, cocoa powder, flour and vanilla one bowl. Mix until well combined. Pour half of mixture into set other half aside.
- Spread chocolate chips over brownie batter.
- In a bowl or stand mixer whisk cream cheese, sugar, egg, and salt. Once combined, dollop spoonful's on top of chocolate chips to create the third and final layer. Fill in areas with brownie batter dollops.
- Take a toothpick or knife and delicately swirl the brownie batter and cheesecake dollops.
- Bake at 350 for 37-40 mins. Allow to completely cool and chill in fridge before cutting.
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Looks absolutely Devine!! Best of both worlds!
How much sugar do you add to the cream cheese mixture?
1/4 cup darling!
These look amazing! I need to try these.
You do! They are amazing!
Very yummy. Moist and decadent. I loved the richness the sourdough added to the recipe.
Thanks for sharing!!
The sourdough really takes the chocolate to the next level, eh?
This looks so good! What a great dessert to make for the family!
It is defiantly a crowd pleaser!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Yes! you can keep it for three-four days in the fridge, just wrap it in plastic wrap or put in an air tight container.
I have this in the oven now! It looks and smells great! Happy New Year!
I am so glad Happy New Year!!
Can’t wait to try this but it’ll be a while. I have to make a starter so they I can have some discard!!
Definitely going to share this with friends!
They are so delicious! I always tell people the fastest way to make a starter is to ask around. Post on a local facebook group and I am sure someone would be willing to share in your area!
I wonder if you could make these as a lemon brownie base instead of a chocolate brownie base? Anybody tried something like that?
If you have a discard lemon bar recipe you can defiantly combine the two! just use the same method and give it a shot!
Is the added flour regular flour or self-rising?
Just regular!
Think I could double this easily? In a 9×13?
yes!
I made these today for the first time.. my batter was so thick. Then I wondered after you had said water as one of the ingredients should I have added some water to thin it a bit?
Yes! You absolutely can add a teaspoon of water or milk at a time to thin the batter. It typically is very thick but using discard or starter in any recipe the consistency varies. This is just because everyone feeds their starter a little different and uses their discards at different stages. My starter and discard might be more runny and someone else’s might be very thick. Always know any discard recipes I put out are flexible. I test everything with different consistencies to give you all the best results. Happy baking!