White Chocolate Mocha Brownies

My husband’s Aunt is a retired caterer that specializes in Chinese and Filipino cuisine. After a successful catering business for several years, she now cooks for family and loves to hosts parties. Today, she is hosting a Labor Day cookout and we definitely cannot attend empty handed.

I’m quite intimidated by her, especially when it comes to cooking up Asian cuisine. She definitely has years of experience on me so I try to make non-Asian dishes around her, if at all possible. I already know her spread today will be amazing and will most likely need desserts (she’s not big on making desserts). So as my contribution to her holiday table, I made a Kahlua Cheesecake Bar recipe I found online… with a little twist of my own.Here is the adapted recipe, which I call my White Chocolate Mocha Brownies.

Brownie Layer: Boxed Brownie Mix
(I know… but this was out of convenience!)

Coffee Cheesecake Layer

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons prepared espresso
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Prepare the brownie mix as directed and spread on a lightly greased bar pan.

Combine coffee cheesecake ingredients and carefully spread over the brownie layer.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Cool pan completely on a wire rack before cutting into bars.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3/4 cup melted white chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 5-6 cups powdered sugar, or as needed
• instant coffee granules
• white chocolate wafers or melts

Instructions

Melt the white chocolate chips with butter in the microwave.

Stir to a creamy and slightly thin consistency; set aside.

Cream the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and melted white chocolate in a mixer.

Alternate adding 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time with a splash of milk to the cream cheese mixture.

Beat with the paddle attachment until you reach a medium/stiff consistency.

When the brownies have cooled, spread the frosting over the top.

Sprinkle coffee granules over the frosting.

Garnish with a white chocolate wafer or melt.