Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

These Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies are rich, decadent and so perfect for Valentine’s Day! Brownie and cheesecake batter are swirled together to make a festive and impressive dessert. Indianapolis, along with many other states in the Midwest, is coping with a huge ice storm that is supposed to cover us in over an inch of ice. Unfortunately the worst of the storm is supposed to come tonight. Today the school district that I work for was actually closed! This is very surprising because we never close. Ok, hardly ever! We did close the day after the Colts won the Superbowl in 2007. There was too much celebrating here in the Circle City to have school the next day! Last night as I was eagerly watching the news, hoping for a snow day, when they finally called it-No School! With all this ice and wind coming our way, the chance of us losing electricity is very likely. So what does Sweet Pea need to survive the ice storm of 2011? Red velvet cheesecake brownies of course!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Printer Friendly Version

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2-oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp red food coloring
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 8 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
4. Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
5. To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
7. Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies.

Source: Baking Bites

Looking for more Red Velvet recipes? Check out a few of my favorites!

 Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Red Velvet Cake Balls

 Red Velvet Cake Roll

 Red Velvet Whoopie Pies