Red velvet brownies
Decadent, fudgy red velvet brownies topped with a cheesecake swirl has all the makings for a perfect Valentine's Day dessert.
Servings 16 smal brownies
Calories 326kcal
Equipment
- 8x8 inch baking pan
Ingredients
For the brownie
- 8 oz butter two sticks
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt sea salt or kosher
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoon red food coloring
- ⅔ cup flour
For the cheesecake swirl
- 8 oz cream cheese
- ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325. Line an 8x8 square baking pan with foil and butter or spray with cooking spray.
To make the brownies
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula - most importantly DO NOT USE A WHISK - to blend after each egg addition. Then stir in the food coloring. Add flour and continue stirring with a wooden spooning or spatula just until blended.
To make the cheesecake swirl
- In a small bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar and egg and beat with a hand mixer or a whisk until full combined.
- Spread the brownie batter over the bottom of the 8x8 baking pan. Then by heaping spoonfuls, dot the top of the brownie batter with the cheesecake mixture, leaving some brownie batter visible between each spoonful.
- Swirl the brownie and cheesecake batters gently together with a toothpick or a knife. You want to see some brownie and some cheesecake defined, not all totally mixed together.
- Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes. They should be set on the top and inserting a toothpick in the center comes out with some moist crumbs stick to it, you don’t want any fully liquid batter on the tooth pick.
- Cool completely before lifting out of the pan with the foil. Cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter or into squares.
Notes
Pro tip – to cut these into perfect and not messy brownies (heart shaped with a cookie cutter or squares with a knife), run the knife or cookie cutter under hot water for a minute to heat it up. This will give you a clean cut.
Store the brownies in the fridge in a sealed container. I am a fan of eating these cold from the fridge, it gives them a denser fudgy texture and plus cheesecake to me should be eaten chilled. But you can leave out of the fridge for 30 minutes or so before serving.
Store the brownies in the fridge in a sealed container. I am a fan of eating these cold from the fridge, it gives them a denser fudgy texture and plus cheesecake to me should be eaten chilled. But you can leave out of the fridge for 30 minutes or so before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 326kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Fat: 18g