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Red Velvet Swirl Cheesecake Brownies



No this isn’t your imagination, this really is a Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie!
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But first, hope you guys had a great weekend.  This weekend was extremely hot in the Greater New York City region, so I basically slept, ate, slept some more, and watched movies with my hubby. 
One of them was “Just Go With It” – Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, it was good, but definitely an On Demand kinda movie. 
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Sunday when the temperatures slightly cooled down, my husband and I headed over to my sister’s to visit my nieces (SSS) with some Red Velvet Brownies. 
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I’ve been wanting to bake Red Velvet Brownies for the longest time and couldn’t decide between a few recipes I found, eventually I just baked Sunny Anderson’s Red Velvet Swirl Brownies.  Review all the way down!
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At my sister’s we enjoyed a Mexican Fiesta for lunch.red velvet 042
She really is such an amazing cook – look at all the food she prepared.
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Once the sun began to set we headed for a walk.  It’s crazy that for the longest time I had no idea there was a river running near my sister’s home.  It was humid, yet a soothing walk.IMG00326-20110724-2014
After a long walk we enjoyed some Haagen-Daaz’ Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream… we all just took a couple bites from this teeny serving.  It was good, but not amazing.
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Thanks to my sister and nieces for making our visit so enjoyable.  And now here are those Red Velvet Swirl Cheesecake Brownies.
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NUTRITION: Cocoa Powder is an excellent source of antioxidants.  Other than that, there is barely any nutrition in these brownies. 




MODIFICATIONS I MADE:

  • Instead of using 1 tsp of vinegar, I used 1/2 a tsp.  I was hoping for a more fudgy texture hence why I opted to use less vinegar.



APPROXIMATE NUTRITION PER SERVING (yields 16 squares)

  • Calories: 192 cals
  • Fat: 11.3 g
  • Saturated Fat: 6.9 g
  • Carbs: 21 g
  • Protein: 2.9 g
  • Fiber: 0.25 g



RED VELVET SWIRL BROWNIES (adapted from Sunny Anderson)
~ yields 16 squares @ 350 degrees using a 8″ x 8″ baking tray
~ fat and calories were not reduced in this recipe.


INGREDIENTS:

  • Unsalted Butter – 8 tbsp (1 stick) – melted
  • Sugar – 1 cup
  • Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
  • Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – 1/4 cup
  • Pinch of salt
  • Red Food Coloring – 1 tbsp
  • Vinegar – 1/2 tsp (original recipe is 1 tsp)
  • Eggs – 2
  • All Purpose Flour – 3/4 cup



Cream Cheese Layer:

  • Cream Cheese – 8 ounces (softened)
  • Sugar – 1/4 cup
  • Egg – 1
  • Vanilla Extract – 1/8 tsp



DIRECTIONS for Brownie Layer:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking tray.
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2. Melt a stick of butter.
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3. Once melted, add it to a mixing bowl.
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4. Add sugar and vanilla extract.  Blend until combined.
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5. Add cocoa powder, pinch of salt, red food coloring, and vinegar. 
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6. Blend until well combined.
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7. Add the blended eggs and combine until well incorporated.
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8. Add the white flour.
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9. Gently fold flour into batter.
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10. Pour 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan and reserve a 1/4 batter for later.
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DIRECTIONS for Cream Cheese Layer:
11. In a separate bowl combine the cream cheese, 1 egg, sugar, and vanilla extract. 
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12. Blend until smooth and creamy.
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13. Add the cream cheese layer over the brownie mixture. 
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14. Spread.
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15. Add the remaining red velvet batter.
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16. Swirl.
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17. Into the oven for 30 minutes exactly – DO NOT OVERBAKE.
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18. This is what you should have. 
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19. Cut into 16 squares.  Refrigerate before serving – it tastes much better if you do.
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OVERALL RATING: 4 / 5
My sister LOVED these brownies and rated them 5/5.  She loved the texture and felt it had just the right amount of sweetness.  I, on the other hand, thought the brownies were more cakelike and not fudgy enough, in addition, I felt these brownies required more sugar, perhaps another 1/4 cup in the batter.  There was just the right amount of cocoa powder so they definitely tasted like Red Velvet, however I’ll have to check out other versions of Red Velvet Brownies, I’m just not convinced this is it.  Or possibly even come up with my own version, and hopefully reduced fat.  Smile


TELL ME: Have you tried Red Velvet Brownies?  What’s your favorite recipe?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  10. Baby K says

    so for Christmas we had a little baked good competition with my sister (i have 4) everyone brought something sweet and mom and dad judge our sweets and i won with these Brownies!!! i put them in to cupcakes so it would be easier to eat everyone loved them!!! thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  13. Anonymous says

    Tried these and they did not taste like red velvet at all. Pretty disappointed but they were okay brownies.

    Reply

  14. honeywhatscooking says

    @Anonymous – I believe the cocoa helped with these brownies tasting a bit like red velvet. I also refrigerated my brownies since I prefer cold cream cheese over warm. As mentioned in my final comments, I think they also need to be a bit sweeter. Sorry you were let down.. I do want to work on my own version of these brownies, I wasn't too thrilled with Sunny Anderson's recipe either.

    Reply

  17. Aurelia says

    This deep velvet colour of the cake is amazing! It's funny, because the cake looks like there should be beautiful fruits inside, but there are no. 😉

    Reply

  19. Anonymous says

    Love these but mine needed 5more oven minutes and I should have used a medium egg in the cream cheese mixture because the knife came out very sloppy when trying to cut squares after baking/cooling. They are SINFUL though!

    Reply

  21. Anonymous says

    I found that they first time I made them, they were amazing, but the second time around they didnt set. Any ideas why? I baked for 30 mins only, does the pan make a difference, metal or glass?

    Reply

  23. Anonymous says

    Thanks for your reply! I believe I used a glass pan and baked for 30 mins. The top seemed a bit brown but when I cut into it, the batter was still raw. Is there a way to double check before you take it out of the oven?

    Reply

  25. Anonymous says

    I Work At A Retirement Home In The KiTcheN. So I Decided To Put These On The Menu. Everyone LoveD TheM! My First Batch Was Okay, Second Turned Out Awesome! Really Delicious!

    Reply

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