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Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies

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Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake, chocolate and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These are next level brownies!!

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.

Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake, chocolate and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These are next level brownies!!

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?  

Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake, chocolate and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These are next level brownies!!

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.
Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake, chocolate and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These are next level brownies!!

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.

Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies are stuffed with delicious creamy cheesecake and dripping with ooey gooey caramel! These will be a hit at your next party!

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4.93 from 13 votes
Print
Milky Way Caramel Cheesecake Brownies
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
cool
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 45 mins
 

Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies are full of cheesecake and dripping with ooey-gooey caramel! These will be a hit at your next party!

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Milky Way Cheesecake Brownies
Servings: 16 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

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

  2. 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.

  3. Set aside one cup of the brownie batter and smooth the rest into a foil lined 9×13 baking dish.

Next layer:

  1. With your stand mixer or hand mixer (cleaned off), begin making your cheesecake layer by beating cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

  2. Add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.

  3. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie mixture and using a spatula, smooth it evenly over the brownie batter.

  4. 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.

  5. Using the reserved cup of brownie batter, drop spoonfuls over the top of the candy bar layer, scattering around.

  6. 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.

  7. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares (at least an hour).

Recipe 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.

Originally published in 2014, updated in 2021.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  16. Shannon says

    These look AMAZING! I’m making them after Easter, because I gave up sweets for lent. This is my favorite milky way candy bars! Win-Win.

    Shannon ~ bohemianjunktion.com

    Reply

  17. Lexie Lane says

    Oh! Now I’ve got such a horrible sweet tooth! I am such a cheesecake and sweet anything fan! This looks really really really really good! Taking the recipe!

    Reply

  20. Elizabeth Towns says

    Yes God, please! You just blessed my life with this post. I am not even eating sweets or sugar, but I will make these just to be a blessing to someone else. I LOVE this! Amazing.

    Reply

  29. mamaknowsitall says

    Wow! These look delicious! Thanks for writing a simple recipe that even us non-awesome foodies like you can try to recreate! I’ll let you know how it goes! Brandi from Collective Bias

    Reply

  30. Amy says

    Oh wow. I think I gained 5 lbs just looking at the pictures. I’m afraid to make these…I’m pretty sure I’d eat the entire pan myself!

    #client

    Reply

  34. Eva says

    I made these the other night, but since I’m gluten free, I used a boxed gluten free brownie mix instead of making the brownie from scratch and it turned out delicious! My only problem was not eating the milky way simply caramels up before I got to the part where i had to add them to the brownies!

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      I am really happy to know that they turned out great using GF mix! I know a lot of my readers are GF, so this is definitely helpful! Thanks so much for sharing!

      Reply

    • Allyson says

      It will firm up in the fridge, but should only be slightly wobbly, maybe in the middle. The rest should be pretty ‘set’ and not jiggling around!

      Reply

  36. Wendy Solomonson says

    The bars were a huge hit at our neighborhood party yesterday. I accidentally bought the regular Milky Way bites instead of the caramel bites and they worked just fine in this recipe although not as caramelly I’m sure. Try this recipe you will not be disappointed!!

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      Yay! I am so happy y’all like them! I really think you can exchange any chocolate candy it they will be just as tasty! I Have some them with Twix and Snickers bites and they are SO good!

      Reply

    • April says

      I’m still fairly new at baking if someone could reply asap because I’m actually going to be baking these in a week my question is the brownie mix from a brownie box and is it the dry mix or do we follow the brownie mix and then add it to the recipe?

      Reply

      • Allyson says

        Hi – I am confused by your question…do you want to use boxed brownies in place of the homemade brownies in the recipe? If you use box brownies, then follow the directions on the box of brownies and OMIT the ‘brownie layer’ ingredients in the directions. You will make the cheesecake layer and then follow the directions from there. You might need 2 boxes of brownies to make these though, because I think the homemade recipe yields a larger serving of brownies. Or, you could use one box and then use a smaller baking dish.

        Reply

  40. jessbures says

    OMG I have died and went to milky way heaven! These look amazing and I cannot wait to try them! If you ever need a new link up party..stop by my blog 🙂 I would love to have you and your awesome recipes!
    Have a great night!
    Jess

    Reply

  41. nancy says

    Tried these. cooked for 35 minutes and cooled. but wasn’t cooked are you suppost to cook the brownie layer separate. we so looked forward to these

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      Oh no, Nancy! I am not sure what happened 🙁 You cook it all together, so I probably would have just advised to cook a little bit longer. Where wasn’t it cooked through? The bottom layer?

      Reply

    • cheryl ison says

      I had the same problem. Mine weren’t even close to being done at 35 minutes. I had to cook them for over an hour.

      Reply

      • Allyson says

        Thanks for letting me know. I have made a note in the instructions in case anyone else runs into the same issue. Hope you enjoyed them!

        Reply

  43. jessbures says

    OMG thank you for coming over and linking these gems up! Between this and the cheesecake twix I am in heaven lol! I cannot wait to try these, the ingreds will be in my shopping cart on my next trip to the store! My hubby who doesnt even like sweets cant wait to try it! Pinned and pinned! Party starts tonight at 10, hope you make it back to share more goodies with us!
    Totally Terrific Tuesday Link Party
    Jess

    Reply

  46. Angela says

    I have boxed brownie mix on hand could I use that instead of making the brownie by scratch and then just follow the rest of the instructions ?

    Reply

  47. Kayla Garza says

    I also had to cook them longer than the 35 minutes. I guess it just depends on how fast your oven cooks food! Cant wait to eat them! the house smells great!

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      I am going to make a note about this in the directions! I think my oven may be hotter than normal, it kind of annoys me! How did they turn out?

      Reply

  49. Kat says

    Mine had to cook a little over an hour as well. I took them to a church potluck. I had only like, a sample when I made them… literally a bite, and it was an edge, but what I tasted was good. I felt it needed a bit of something though, so I drizzled/poured a homemade caramel sauce all over the top and sprinkled some mini chocolate chips for some crunch. I think some chopped nuts like maybe cashews would be really good too maybe instead of chips. Anyway, I still haven’t had a finished piece, but I had no leftovers from the tray I took, and several people found me and raved about them, so they must be really good! ^_^

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      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!

      Reply

    • Allyson says

      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.

      Reply

  54. Samantha Whitson says

    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:)

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      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

      Reply

  55. The Windmills of Our Minds says

    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

    Reply

      • maria says

        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…

        Reply

  56. Becky says

    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.

    Reply

  57. Lisa Toler says

    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 9×13 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!!

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      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!

      Reply

  58. Kimberly Farris says

    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

    Reply

  59. Em says

    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.

    Reply

  62. S. says

    4 stars
    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.

    Reply

    • Allyson says

      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!

      Reply

  71. Dawn says

    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.

    Reply

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