Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Valentines Day is right around the corner! Less than a week as of today! Do you have special plans with the one you love? Valentines Day is always either my favorite holiday, or my second favorite holiday; depending on my relationship status. Once again I'm single for Valentines Day so it's my second favorite, coming after Halloween but I never let that stop me from celebrating! I know most of my peers think that Valentines Day is cheesy and pointless but being a hopeless romantic I love it! My favorite colors are red and pink and you can find those colors everywhere this time of year, best time to find decor for your house. If you have someone special in your life, you can go all out and be a cheesy as it pleases you, after all that's what February 14th is all about!
The best part of Valentines Day is baking. The only limit you have is your imagination! You can play with flavors like strawberry, raspberry, red velvet, chocolates milk, dark and white, the list goes on!
Check out my Recipe Index for so many more ideas to make for Valentines Day.
I've tried my fair share of different brownies, and these by far are my favorite. They are absolutely addicting. Soft, moist, full of flavor and not too rich. No matter who you make these for you will impress all, no question about it. I found this recipe at Confections from the Cody Kitchen.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

For the Brownies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
2/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Cream Cheese Top:
8 oz cream cheese, (softened)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare 8 inch square pan by greasing it and lining with parchment paper.
In small heat proof bowl, microwave butter and chocolate until melted.
Stir and set aside.
In separate bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla, and food coloring.
Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth.
Add flour and salt and stir until fully incorporated.
Pour into prepared pan.
Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla together until smooth
Drop large dollops of cream cheese mixture over brownie mixture.
Use knife to make swirl pattern.
Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Strawberry White Chocolate Brownies

This may shock you, but I'm really not much of a dessert person. Eating too much chocolate or sugar either gives me headaches or just makes me sick. So, when I really like a dessert you know it's good.
This is another reason I love mixing fresh fruit with my baked goods, they add a bit of tangy that balances out the sweetness and a different flavor other than chocolate.
These white chocolate brownies were very delicious and like the raspberry crumb bars I love to make, they were quite addictive. They were soft and moist. They'll be a hit with whomever you sever them to.
They're kind of summery, but I like to be a little unconventional and keep summer around year-round, and I live in Florida so summer is here year-round anyway. Even if you don't live in the sunshine state, dare to be a little unconventional sometimes. These would be a nice change from the typical Thanksgiving desert and much less heavy and filling. (hint, hint)
Sorry about the lack of more pictures. By the time I decided I needed more, it was a little too late.
This recipe is from The Way The Cookie Crumbles.

Strawberry White Chocolate Brownies

1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
5 ounces white chocolate
5 tablespoons butter, (cubed)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
4 ounces strawberries, (hulled and quartered)

Adjust a rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line the bottom and sides of an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan containing one inch of simmering water.
Add the chocolate and butter; stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth, them remove from heat.
Whisk in the sugar, (the mixture will appear curdled), the add the vanilla and eggs one at a time, whisking constantly.
Switch to a rubber spatula and add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.
Gently fold in the strawberries.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it into an even layer.
Bake brownies for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted near the center cones out clean.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan and cut into 2-inch squares.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

Happy December 1st! Christmas is just around the corner! I'm so happy I've finished my shopping, now I just have to pay off my credit card..
I've never realized how expensive wrapping paper is. It's kind of ridiculous. And shipping things is even worse.
I've done raspberries with cupcakes and with cookies so of corse the next this is brownies! My obsession with all things raspberry is out of control but it is so delicious. I wonder what I can make with raspberries next? Any ideas?
I really wanted to bring something delicious to my cousins house for Thanksgiving, I wanted something that went with the theme of Thanksgiving but there is a small problem: I hate cranberries & pumpkins, and I just made spiced cookies for halloween. I called my mother and she gave me the very smart advice to just make something that is good. So I dug up this recipe.
As soon as I saw Dessert Candy's Raspberry Swirl Brownies I bookmarked it immediately and added the note "make with dark chocolate cocoa". I'm not a big chocolate bar person, but dark chocolate  raspberry bars are my weakness. Notice that I said "Dessert Candy's Raspberry Swirl Brownies" and the picture of my brownies are not swirled. Well, I did swirl them, but I got a little excited with the raspberry jelly, thinking, "You can never have enough Raspberry!", and the raspberry mixture was a little watery and there for became a raspberry layer instead of a raspberry swirl, but I'm not complaining! I was right! You really can't have too much raspberry! The only problem is the raspberry swirl is pink, mine came out eggplant colored because I had to cook the brownies almost 20 min longer to cook the brownies underneath the raspberry layer, they were still rich and gooey and oh so delicious. I would also like to brag that this was my first time using just an egg white and I totally did it like a pro.
I will be making these again. But eating more than one next time!
Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

for the brownies:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, (cubed)
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder, (natural and/or dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour


for the swirl
4 oz cream cheese, (softened)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg white
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Grease an 8" square baking pan or line with parchment paper.
For the cream cheese batter: Beat all the ingredients, without the jam, together until light and creamy.
Set aside.
For the brownies: Place butter in a saucepan and heat until the butter is just melted on medium heat.
Add the cocoa and sugar and stir until everything is smooth and warm to the touch.
Remove from heat and set aside until the mixture is only warm.
Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon.
Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one.
When the batter looks thick and shiny add the four, stirring until it is blended in.
Beat vigorously for 40 strokes with your wooden spoon.
Spread evenly in the pan.
Dollop about 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture over the batter in blobs.
Stir in the raspberry jam in the remaining cream cheese mixture.
Dollop the raspberry mixture over the batter in blobs.
Use a toothpick to make swirls in the batter with the blobs.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick emerges slightly moist with batter.
Let cool completely on a cooking rack.

Better Than A Campfire

I found this recipe on my favorite food blog, Lovin' From the Oven. I bookmarked it a long time ago and then when the opportunity came for me to make it, I could not wait, I mean really, look at them! I was really excited because I love brownies, but if they have too much chocolate or are too sweet, I get the worst headache from them, so with marshmallows and graham crackers, they'd be perfect! It was my first time making brownies from scratch and after making so many cupcakes from scratch and was ecstatic how easy the recipe was. However, it soon found that this recipe was a trial by error effort. Next time, I want to use bigger hunks of graham crackers, and I set the marshmallows on the batter standing up, and I think they would have melted better into the brownies on their sides and maybe if I pressed them in more? Nevertheless, they were gone fast! I think there was one left over after I took them to my Aunt and Uncles house and my father ate it before I could even look at it. I also had a helper, my Niece Maddy, who just turned ten(!), crushed the graham crackers and put them into the batter for me!
What do you think? Are you going to make them?
S'mores Brownies
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
roughly 1 cup graham crackers pieces, broken by hand
half a bag of large marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan.
Melt butter in saucepan over low heat.
Once melted remove from heat and add sugar, vanilla, eggs, then blend.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, and salt.
Add the dry mixture to the batter and mix well.
Add the graham cracker pieces and mix.
Pour into the greased pan.
Place the marshmallows over the poured batter.
Bake for 35-40 minuets, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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