Cream Cheese Brownie Day

What the day is

Cream Cheese Brownie Day is observed on February 10. The bake is two batters in one pan: a dense chocolate brownie and a sweetened cream cheese mixture, dolloped over each other and swirled so that both survive into the finished square.

The appeal is contrast rather than combination. The cheesecake ribbon is tangy and slightly firm against the fudgy chocolate, and each mouthful gets some of both.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

The bake belongs to mid-twentieth-century American home baking, when packaged cream cheese became a standard refrigerator item and appeared in everything from dips to frostings to pie fillings. Marbled bakes were fashionable in the same period, and the cream cheese brownie is the version that stuck.

Brownies themselves are American and late-nineteenth-century, and the enduring argument about them is texture: cakey, chewy or fudgy. That is largely a question of the ratio of fat and chocolate to flour and eggs. A cream cheese brownie is nearly always built on the fudgy end, because a cakey base would compete with the topping rather than support it.

How to take part

The failure modes are specific and easy to avoid.

• Bring the cream cheese fully to room temperature. Cold cheese will not beat smooth and leaves lumps through the swirl.
• Do not over-swirl. Three or four passes with a knife gives distinct ribbons; more turns the whole pan a muddy beige.
• Reserve a few spoonfuls of brownie batter to dot on top before swirling, so the pattern reads on the surface.
• Underbake slightly and cool completely in the pan. The center sets as it cools, and a fully baked pan is dry.
• Chill before cutting, and wipe the knife between cuts for clean edges.

They keep well for several days in the refrigerator and are arguably better cold, which is not true of a plain brownie.