Randomness and cheesecake

Brought to you by 18 hours of sleep.  Yes, that's how long I slept yesterday.  OK, I probably didn't sleep that long, but I was laying in bed for that many hours overcoming an ubermigraine.  The kind that makes me want to scoop my eyeball out with an ice-cream scoop or anything else I can get my hands on.  The kind that makes me want to collapse on the tile floor moaning in pain, except the sheer sound of my own voice makes everything hurt worse.  The kind of pain that still lingers when I cut my eyes to the left; even today.
I hate migraines.  And I haven't had one in a while.  It came out of nowhere and knocked me on my ass and ruined the better half of my Sunday.  It sucked.
So instead of being able to show you the cool thing I did to the dinning room (cause I didn't), I'll show you the yummy cheesecake I made for a party Saturday.

I typically turn to brownies.  Brownies covered in chocolate.  Brownies layered with ice cream.  Brownies dipped in fudge.  Yum. YUM. YUM!  But, I was feeling cheesecake.  So, I thought, why not join the two into one deliciously heavenly dessert.  And, that's what I did.

I was going to 'wing it,' but I decided to find a recipe, just in case.  This one was perfect.

Bake a brownie mix per instructions in a 9 inch springform pan.  (If you don't have one, you should get one!  They're quite nifty and not expensive.)  Bake to the 'chewy' recipe time.  I would suggest going a little bit shorter on time, because they will be in the oven longer while the cheesecake bakes.

Take 3 packages (24 oz. total) of cream cheese.  Let sit at room temperature.  This will help it cream easier.  If it is cold, it will be lumpy and not get smooth.

Add 1 can of sweeten condensed milk slowly to the mixer.

Add 3 eggs. (one at a time)

Add 2 tsp. vanilla extract (I was out of vanilla and used almond, I would have used 1 tsp almond, 1 tbsp vanilla)- Using the Almond gave it a nice amaretto-ish flavor. 


Pour on top of brownie, bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes.  Once finished, leave in oven, but turn oven off.  This should help keep the top from cracking.  Mine cracked anyway (sometimes it happens).  If you really, REALLY don't want it to crack, wrap the outside of the pan with foil and place it in a water bath. And leave it for at least an hour, maybe two.

I didn't so much care about the crack because I topped mine with whipped cream and drizzled caramel and shaved chocolate all over the top. Delish!

*Edit: It's a tsp not TBSP, couldn't imagine what that would taste like with that much extract!