Wow.  Wowie wow wow.  That’s what happens when you combine cheesecake and brownies.  Now combine those two things with red velvet and make ’em heart-shaped.  Brilliantly delicious.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies         Printer-Friendly Recipe

Adapted from: Food Network

Ingredients

Red Velvet Brownies

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
2 eggs, whisked
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Red Velvet Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a pan (8×8″ or similar size) with non-stick cooking spray, set aside.

Melt butter in a large bowl and then add the following ingredients, in this order, stirring after each addition: sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar.  Now stir in the whisked egg.  Finally, fold in the flour until just combined.  Reserve 1/4 cup of the batter and pour the rest into your prepared pan.

Cheesecake

Beat together all of the cheesecake ingredients with a hand-mixer, about 2 minutes.  There will be some small lumps left, but that is ok.  Place spoonfuls of the cheesecake batter on top of the brownie batter in the pan.  Now spread the remaining brownie batter on top of the cheesecake batter.  Use a knife to create swirls between the brownie batter and cheesecake batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until the brownies are set.  Allow the brownies to cool in the pan.  Then use a knife to ease the brownies away from the sides of the pan.  Carefully tip the pan upside down to remove the brownies from the pan.  Cut out hearts using a cookie cutter.  Eat the remaining scraps or use in another recipe (like these Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie Parfaits).  Store leftovers in the fridge for up to one week.

*Alternatively, you can just cut the brownies into squares and eat them like that (still delicious!)

Hello, delicious butter.

Melt the butter.

Stir in sugar.

Stir in vanilla.

Stir in cocoa powder.

Stir in salt.

Stir in food coloring.

Stir in vinegar.

Stir in whisked eggs.

Fold in flour until just combined.

Look at that radiant batter.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the batter and pour the rest into a well-greased pan.

Prepare the cheesecake filling by placing the softened cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl.

Use a hand mixer to beat until semi-smooth, about 2 minutes. Some small lumps are ok.

Place spoonfuls of the cheesecake filling on top of the brownie batter.

Spread the remaining 1/4 cup of brownie batter over the cheesecake filling.

Use a knife to create swirls between the brownie batter and cheesecake filling. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Now that it’s baked, allow to cool completely. Use a knife to carefully loosen and remove the brownies from the pan. (You can also just slice and serve the bars in squares instead of following the next step.)

Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts from the brownies.

Done! You can just eat the scraps as is, or chop them up and use them in another delicious recipe (more on that tomorrow!).