RED VELVET CHEESECAKE SWIRL BROWNIES

I have been wanting to make something with a cheesecake layer for a while and after making this I am so annoyed I waited this long! OK this recipe.....OMG so decandent, so rich and believe it or not ridiculously simple to make; seriously it will take you only about 15 minutes to get these into the oven. 

These brownies are good any time of the year but the vivid red makes it particularly fitting for valentines day, this recipe is from sallys baking addiction and she adapted it from a Sunny Anderson recipe. I prefer the sally's baking addiction recipe because using just the egg yolk makes the cheesecake layer thicker (which I love) but if you'd rather not have an egg white hanging around feel free to use the whole egg in the cheesecake layer.

Whenever I make anything red velvet (brownies, cakes, cookies, cheesecake etc) I use red gel food colouring instead of liquid colour as the liquid red food colouring sold in UK supermarkets never gives you the bright red you want. The brand I use the most is Home2bake professional icing colour which you can buy from Asda. You only get basic colours like green, yellow, blue so if you need any fancy tints and shades like paprika, primrose, ice blue and so on you will need to go to a sugarcraft store or buy online. 

Now back to these brownies, after eating 3 pieces sneaking a few nibbles, I put them in the freezer for about 40 minutes so that I could get neat slices to take pretty pictures and obviously a few more nibbles made it into my mouth. Let me tell you it tasted beyond amazing, like a red velvet cheesecake truffle!!!!!!!!!!
Trust me on this one, after you've made them and let them cool completely, chuck them in the freezer for 30-40 minutes before slicing of a piece, your taste buds will thank you (well thank me but but I'm OK with you to taking the glory).

You will want to cut these brownies into small pieces (about 2-3 bites) as they are pretty rich.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies recipe from 

Ingredients

Brownie layer
115g unsalted butter
100g granulated sugar
1/2 tbsp red gel food colouring
2 tsp vanilla exctract
32g cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
3/4 tsp white wine vinegar
95g of plain flour

Cheesecake layer
225g cream cheese
50g granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Line an 8x8 baking pan with baking paper and lightly grease and flour the sides. Preheat your oven to 170C. 

For the brownie layer: In a medium sized bowl melt the butter; add in the sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food colouring and vinegar in that order and mix together. 

Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and mix that into the butter mixture. Fold in the flour ensuring there are no streaks of flour left. 

Pour into the prepared tin reserving about a quarter cup of the batter. 

Cheesecake layer: With a hand-held mixer, whisk together the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla. 

Dollop spoon-fulls of the cheesecake mixture onto the brownie layer and then add dollop the reserved brownie batter over that. Use a knife or a toothpick to create the swirl pattern. 

Bake for 22- 27 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bite size squares.

These are delicious as they are but to make them even more amazing pop in the freezer for about 40 minutes after they have completely cooled before slicing and eating.