Thanksgiving Dessert: Brownie Chocolate Chip Cheesecake!

As tradition holds in our household, I am usually the one who is responsible for the dessert, even if desserts and baking aren't my forte. Put me in the kitchen and your dinner will be amazing, but I'm not the best at when it comes to sweets, so I'm not sure how this tradition started? Luckily social media is filled with plenty of ideas these days, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a short and sweet video of said dessert and my decision was made! I present the "Easy" Chocolate Chip Brownie Cheesecake, via Tasty (side note-if you don't follow them on FB you should! They make super cool looking things-all at record time. No really, the video is sped up so it really is super fast cooking ;))! 

Behold iPhone quality photos:

Here's what you need:

-1 box of brownie mix (which usually requires and egg or two, water, and vegetable oil)

-1 cup of sugar

-16 ounces of cream cheese (I used low fat)

-8 ounces of whipped cream (sugar free cool whip!)

-1 cup chocolate chips

-Little bit of vanilla extract

-Strawberries for the top

-Spring Foam Pan for cooking/holding in the pie

First Step: 

-Mix the brownie mix as directed on the box

-Also spray spring foam pan with Pam 

-Pour brownie mix into pan and bake as directed

Step Dos:

-Mix 1 cup of sugar and 16 oz of cream cheese 

-Add tsp of vanilla and 8 oz of whipped cream

-Add 1 cup chocolate chips

Three:

-Cool brownie and pour cream cheese mix on top

-Decorate with sliced Strawberries 

-Refrigerate for at least 4 hours

Enjoy!

5 Thoughts for future attempts:

-I used a fudge based brownie and it was really chewy. Since it was refrigerated, the brownie was a bit tough to cut through and chew.

-Might want to defrost the frozen cool whip before using it as a spread. Learned that the hard way. 

-I could have just eaten the top cream part without any brownie, but that's just me.

-The more strawberries the better!

-The spring foam pan didn't really help the shape keep of the pie once I took it off, so maybe freeze it next time? 

-Don't mix brownie mix and cream cheese mixture right before Insanity class because you will feel sick from licking the mixer things, even if it was yummy at the time!

Ta da!