Anyone who live away from their home country, will know there are certain things which will always remind us of home.  I received a package from my sister and my soon to be brother in law, at the beginning of August with Nestle Peppermint Crisp chocolates in.  It really was the an amazing gift - well it doesn't take much to please me! Peppermint Crisp can be found at times in the UK at times, but at an extortionate price (£4 for a 49g bar), after being imported from South Africa.   

These had become the new gold dust in our household. I firstly had to hide them, then bring some of them out slowly, then made excuses that the rest were for my birthday (mid August) etc so they didn’t all get consumed on the first day!! 

Nevertheless, five weeks on and I am still holding on to one large bar for another baking day - those two small bars in the picture have long disappeared!  In the meantime these Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies were a real hit. I like baked cheesecake, I like brownies and I like mint so putting both these recipes together was a perfect mix.  

Recipe:

Brownies - 

115g Butter

200g dark chocolate

250g granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

95g plain flour

Cheesecake:

200g full fat cream cheese (at room temperature)

50g granulated sugar

1 egg yolk

Peppermint Extract to taste

Green food colouring

2 x 49g bars of Peppermint Crisp Chocolate (Crushed)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Grease and Line an 8 x 8 x 2 inch pan.

Make the Brownies - Melt the butter and chocolate together and allow to cool.  Stir in the other brownie ingredients until the mixture is smooth and set aside.

Make the Cheesecake - Mix the cream cheese, sugar and peppermint extract together, then have a taste.  Add more peppermint if you want your cheesecake minty (I did).  Stir in the egg yolk,  the crushed peppermint crisp chocolate and the food colouring.  Again the amount of green is personal preference - but I did use a fair bit because I wanted the cheesecake to be a mint green colour.  

Pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan and spread over the base.  Spoon over the cheesecake mixture, then cover with the remaining brownie mixture.  Use a knife to swirl the cheesecake into the brownie mix.

Bake for 35 mins - it will be cooked around the edges and slightly wobbly in the middle.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.  Chill for around 2 - 4 hours or overnight, before cutting into squares.