Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake, chocolate and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These are next level brownies!!
My very favorite dessert in the whole entire world is cheesecake. Growing up I used to ask for cheesecake on my birthday in place of regular cake, and my parents usually agreed. I loved those cheesecake samplers that featured 3-4 different types of cheesecakes, and always my favorite one would be the chocolate or caramel flavors. These Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies incorporate all of that and are always a hit!
Over the last few years I’ve become more comfortable baking ‘cheesecake’, and have made everything from 3 Ingredient Fudge to Skinny Key Lime Cheesecake Cupcakes to Sopapilla Cheesecake which is a spin on Mexican cheesecake. I’ve never met a cheesecake I didn’t like, and I am happy to report, it’s not as difficult to make as I always thought.
While making these Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies, I kept thinking of the delicious melted caramel and chocolate, and the soft brownie crust I opted to make instead of a more plain cheesecake. With a combo of chocolate, caramel, brownies, and cream cheese, how can you go wrong?
TIPS FOR MAKING MILKY WAY CARAMEL CHEESECAKE BROWNIES:
- Make sure these bad boys cool completely before you slice into them.
- I also refrigerated the Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies before serving, but you could also serve them room temperature.
- You do have to refrigerate them after you are done serving though, because you don’t want the cheese filling sitting out for a long time.
I’ve already unloaded a ton of these Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies to my friends and neighbors and everyone has raved about how delicious they are. These are seriously one of the best desserts I have ever made and it was so simple.
Things you might need for this recipe:
Like dessert as much as I do?! Checkout these other recipes:
- TWIX Cheesecake Bars with Chocolate and Caramel Drizzle
- Snickers Cheesecake Bars
- Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf
- Edible Cookie Dough
- Mint Chocolate Skillet Brownie
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These will be a hit at your next party!
- 1 cup butter , melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa
- 1 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 16 oz cream cheese , softened (2 packs)
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups chopped Milky Way Simply Caramel Bites (1 large bag)
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer combine melted butter with sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add the cocoa and mix well. Then add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined, do not over mix.
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Set aside one cup of the brownie batter and smooth the rest into a foil lined 9×13 baking dish.
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With your stand mixer or hand mixer (cleaned off), begin making your cheesecake layer by beating cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
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Add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.
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Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie mixture and using a spatula, smooth it evenly over the brownie batter.
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Sprinkle the chopped Milky Way Simple Caramel slices evenly over cream cheese layer. They should be close together and pretty much covering the cream cheese layer.
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Using the reserved cup of brownie batter, drop spoonfuls over the top of the candy bar layer, scattering around.
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Use your spatula or a butter knife to gently swirl the batters. This will combine the cream cheese layer and top brownies layer a bit, which covering the candies in batter. This does not need to be perfect.
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Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares (at least an hour).
- After my brownies were done baking, I let cool for about 30 minutes, and then I was able to lift them all out of the baking dish with the foil (by grabbing the sides of the foil). This helped to cool more quickly. You can also set the baking dish on a wire rack to cool faster.
- Be sure to refrigerate the brownies when you are done serving.
I like these best served cold so I allow them to cool for an hour on the counter, and then refrigerate another hour before serving. It's up to you! - Some people have noted that it took much longer for their brownies to cook. I would check them at the 35 minute mark, and then every 5 minutes after that if they don't seem done. I have made them several times and the 35 minutes is always perfect for mine, but people have noted it taking up to an hour for them. So just check them as they are cooking.
Originally published in 2014, updated in 2021.
Wendy
Are you saying 2 16oz. bars of cream cheese or 2 8oz. bars?
Allyson
It is 2 Eight Ounce packages of cream cheese as stated! Enjoy!
sonya
what a creative idea! all of your cheesecake bars also look amazing!
Sam
Hi Allyson,
This looks amazing, but where is the actual recipe. I know I must be overlooking it.
Allyson
So weird, thank you for calling this to my attention. The thing I use for recipes to display is down I guess. I have put the recipe into the post, so you should see it now. Thanks!
Allyson
Hi again, I am not sure what's going on but it looks like it's STILL not showing up!!! UGh! Here is the recipe:
Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredients:
Brownie Layer
1 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Cheesecake Layer
16 oz cream cheese, softened (2 packs)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups chopped Milky Way Simply Caramel Bites (1 large bag)
Instructions
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer combine melted butter with sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add the cocoa and mix well. Then add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined, do not over mix.
2. Set aside one cup of the brownie batter and smooth the rest into a foil lined 9×13 baking dish.
Now for our next layer...
3. With your stand mixer or hand mixer (cleaned off), begin making your cheesecake layer by beating cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
4. Add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.
5. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie mixture and using a spatula, smooth it evenly over the brownie batter.
6. Sprinkle the chopped Milky Way Simple Caramel slices evenly over cream cheese layer. They should be close together and pretty much covering the cream cheese layer.
7. Using the reserved cup of brownie batter, drop spoonfuls over the top of the candy bar layer, scattering around.
8. Use your spatula or a butter knife to gently swirl the batters. This will combine the cream cheese layer and top brownies layer a bit, which covering the candies in batter. This does not need to be perfect.
9. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares (at least an hour).
Notes
After my brownies were done baking, I let cool for about 30 minutes, and then I was able to lift them all out of the baking dish with the foil (by grabbing the sides of the foil). This helped to cool more quickly. You can also set the baking dish on a wire rack to cool faster.
Be sure to refrigerate the brownies when you are done serving.
I like these best served cold so I allow them to cool for an hour on the counter, and then refrigerate another hour before serving. It's up to you!
**Some people have noted that it took much longer for their brownies to cook. I would check them at the 35 minute mark, and then every 5 minutes after that if they don't seem done. I have made them several times and the 35 minutes is always perfect for mine, but people have noted it taking up to an hour for them. So just check them as they are cooking.
Samantha Whitson
Okay Ms. Allyson, you have seriously done it RIGHT with these brownies! I have thought about adding candy bars to my brownies many times, but was always nervous about turning the pan into a runny mess. The idea of wasting a whole batch of brownie goodness scared me off-I now feel like such a wimp. Thank you for reminding me that it is always worth taking the risk...especially this time! As a side note, I used chopped king size candy bars, that I partially froze first, because my husband came home from the store with fifteen of them he found on clearance- for .39 cents each! I also lightly dusted the chopped pieces with flour before adding them in, in case the extra "open edges" melted out too soon. I hope that makes sense. They came out to be the single best brownie I have EVER made or eaten-well done!! I will now be checking out the rest of your recipes and feeling oh so blessed to find your sight....thank you kind woman:)
Allyson
Samantha,
Your comment put a HUGE smile on my face on a day that was not going so well - THANK YOU! These Brownies are seroiusly THE BEST EVER and that is an amazing price your husband found (love that clearance section)!!! I have a couple other candy brownie recipes too, check them out! And if you like 'real food' I have tons of recipes for that too. Thank you for stopping by and thank you for leaving your sweet comment!
xo,
Allyson
The Windmills of Our Minds
I made these last night, and though they were good, I prefer a fudgier, gooier brownie. The recipe was too cakey. If I were to make it again, I'd use fewer eggs to get the consistency that we prefer right. It was a fun experiment!
Ashley
Allyson
Good tips! I agree, for a fudgier brownie I would use one egg! Happy y'all liked them, thouh 🙂
maria
Can you please elaborate on making it "fudgier"? you would use 1 egg instead of 2 in the cheesecake layer? The brownie layer is calling for 4 eggs...
Becky
HI I found your recipe on Pinterest. I am doing a Round Up blog post later in March for National Chocolate Caramel Day (the 19th) and am interested in including this recipe in that round up. I would like to use a picture from the post, with links back to your site/this post. I would promote it on my all my social media platforms and would share the link with you so that you could do the same if you wish. If you are not interested, I understand, I will not use your post/images without your permission.
Thank you for your time.
Allyson
That is totally fine! Thanks for asking and I can't wait to see it!
Lisa Toler
These brownies are AhhhhhhMazing!!!! I added pecans to the caramel bites layer...yum, yum, yum and I served with vanilla ice cream....absolutely heavenly!!! I also cooked them for just under an hour in a 9x13 pan.
They were such a hit with the teenagers hanging out at my house last night that I decided to make a another batch for a church get together tonight. What a hit!!! Will definitely make these again and again.
Thank you for helping me score some major brownie points with this recipe.....Hahahaha!!
Allyson
Dang girl, those sound like awesome additions! I will have to try that. I am so happy you liked them, they are really our go to brownies too...for everything...'oh, you hurt your toe? BROWNIES!' LOL! Thanks for coming by to let me know!
Kimberly Farris
There were delicious and so so so so easy to make. They did take a bit longer than 35 minutes. I substituted the milky way candies with a few chocolate chips and swirled in homemade caramel sauce--AMAZING
Allyson
Yay! So happy you loved them! I wish I was having them this weekend - yum!
Em
Could you add some info about how you tell that they're done? I baked mine for 55 minutes - at that point, a knife came out with just some cheesecake and caramel on it so I thought they must finally be done. But then I cut into them after they cooled and they were definitely still on the underdone side. They held together but were still kind of wet.
I was far too lazy to cut up a bunch of Milky Way pieces so I just used some Kraft Caramel Bites that I had on hand. (They're unwrapped caramel balls, typically found near the chocolate chips.) I only wish I'd had a full bag! But they were still tasty.
Lou
Salted or unsalted butter???
Allyson
It doesn't matter much, but I typically use unsalted!
Beth K.
This is a marriage made in heaven. I love cheesecake, brownies, and Milky Way! YUM!!!
S.
I tried making these yesterday and was slightly disappointed as my cheesecake layer settled on the bottom as it was cooking. Not sure what caused it to do so because I followed the recipe exactly except I used regular milky way in stead of the simply caramel milky ways. However they still tasted delicious even though the cheesecake was the bottom and brownie on top.
Allyson
Oh wow! Well, it still sounds delicious and it sounds like it tasted delicious too! I haven't run into that issue, but could have just been the way it was mixed/spread/etc. Glad you liked the brownies!
Edita
Wow! This brownie look's amazing!
April
OMG these were absolutely heavenly. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.
Amanda
This looks so decadent and delicious! I am beyond excited to try these out. Thank you!
Beth
This might be the perfect dessert recipe. All of these flavors meld together so perfectly. I can't wait to make it!
Kim
I could roll in these brownies! So dang delicious!
Erin
These brownies are on my must-make list!
Natalie
These brownies are perfection!! Thick & gooey, they are delicious!! I want to add milky ways in all my brownies!
Vikki
So chewy and delicious and soft, I love love love these brownies!
Dawn
Could I use a different chocolate and caramel candy? Like Ghirardelli chocolate caramel squares?
Thanks in advance for a response. I love,love,love your recipes! Keep cooking.
Allyson
Yes absolutely! You can really use any candy!
Catalina
Oh my goodness! I am drooling over these brownies! Love it so much!
Sandra
This was really good! My family was so impressed with these brownies!
Rita
Is the flour All Purpose or Self Rising?
Allyson
all purpose!