Chocolate Nutella Cheesecake Brownie Bars

This indulgent dessert makes a drop dead delicious finish to a meal, or cut in bite size bits to take to an event or shared morning tea. Both brownie and cheesecake freeze well for a few weeks. Ingredients

- 150g butter, coarsely chopped
- 250g dark chocolate
- 1½ cups brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup ground hazelnuts- around ½ cup whole hazelnuts, skinned and blitzed
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp cocoa, sifted
- ½ tsp vanilla essence

Topping

- 500g cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp Nutella warmed for 30 seconds in microwave on 50% or until a bit runny Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 26x18 cm slice pan (see tips), line with baking paper extending up to the rim on all sides

Melt butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Add sugar, cook stirring for 2 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then stir in eggs, then nuts, flour, sour cream and cocoa. Spread the mixture into pan.

In a bowl or processor beat the cream cheese, when completely smooth beat in sour cream, vanilla, sugar and eggs.

Pour cheesecake on top of the brownie batter and gently smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle with warmed Nutella and swirl with the tip of a knife. Bake 40 minutes or till set. Tips

If your pan is larger you will simply end up with thinner layers, and you may need to reduce the cooking time a little as it won’t be as deep. If your pan is smaller it may not accommodate all of the mixture. If you can find “hazelnut meal" in the grocery store it is simply ground hazelnuts so will save you skinning and chopping whole nuts.