Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

It seems everyone likes Red Velvet cake, but you should see them go for Red Velvet Cheesecake brownies!!!  I love moist, fudgy brownies like these. Later on I promise to blog about my great Red Velvet Cake recipe that is super moist with a surprising taste addition that makes it so much better than most cakes.

I made these brownies from another blog for a potluck football party, but the original recipe only made an 8x8 pan... which really, really isn't enough for a crowd.  If you are going to go to the trouble of making some scrumptious dessert to share, you really need more than 16 brownies!  Also,  the cheesecake topping recipe made entirely too much for an 8x8 pan, but it's perfect for a 9x13 pan.  I actually threw away some of the cheesecake topping when I first made this... I was just kind of DONE with little dabs of perfectly "good" cheesecake filling in my fridge.

Of course, you could access the original recipe here and make a small batch for your family. Thank you to Sweet Peas Kitchen for the original recipe, it was enthusiastically recieved with major thumbs up from my football taste testers!

About 24-35 brownies
1- 9x13 pan
Ingredients:

1 cup butter

4-oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 teaspoons red food coloring

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:

8-oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 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, or spray with nonstick spray.

In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

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.

Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.

To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in even dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.

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.

Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies.

Here's some more brownie recipes that I have loved...
Brownies topped with Pretzels & Toffee
Merlot Dark Chocolate Brownies