Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

I know I'm a little late on this Valentine's Day dessert, but it's just too incredibly delicious not to share with you. I made these Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies on Valentine's Day to give to a very special group of people who are staying at the Stork's Nest here on our military base. The Stork's Nest provides temporary housing to high risk pregnant patients, parents of infants in the NICU and family members of patients in the ICU at our Naval Hospital.  

I hope they enjoyed these decadent brownies as much as I enjoyed making them. I think they're so good that I'm going to make them again this weekend for my Bunco group. Yes, I play Bunco, no juding! :)  

 How can you not want to just sink your teeth into these little beauties? A layer of red velvet brownies is topped by a layer of cheesecake then swirled together. It doesn't matter what time of year you make these, they are sure to be a hit no matter what!

 Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies
From Sweet Pea's Kitchen
Printable Version
Ingredients 
For the brownie layer:
1/2 cup butter
2 ounces dark chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons red food coloring
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt


For the cheesecake layer:
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 8X8 inch square baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extent 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've baked.) Butter the parchment.
In a small heatproof bowl melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave at 15 second intervals. 

Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside a few minutes to cool.
In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer whisk together the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add the flour and sat and stir just until combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Pour brownie mixture into the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. 
Prepare the cheesecake layer by beating cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in about 8 dollops over the brownie batter in the pan. 

Swirl in with a knife.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A toothpick inserted into the mixture should come out clean and the edges will be slightly browned. Let the brownies cool cool completely in the pan, about one hour before lifting out the parchment paper to remove 
the brownies. Cut and serve.