Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies 5/5 Spoons

I'm always looking for a new brownie recipe. I can never get enough chocolate and these are definitely my new favorites. I like my brownies to be DARK and not super sweet. I want to have one square and feel like I've had a weirdo chocolate dream where I splash in a chocolate milk fountain and wear milk chocolate high heels with white chocolate candied hazelnut earrings. This doesn't make any sense but the recipe really does. If you want a brownie with a serious dark chocolate hit and a tart twinge at the end, these are for you.



Mmmmmm, look at these dark swirling caverns!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Wet:

4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 T. vegetable oil
½ t. vanilla extract
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 T. sour cream (any fat content will do)
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs

Dry:

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ c. cocoa powder
½ t. baking powder
½ t. sea salt

White chocolate (optional for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. The easiest way to get your brownies out in one big clean 9-inch block is to cut two pieces of parchment so they both hang over your pan. It’s not a perfect science. Just cut two pieces long enough to hang over your pan so you have little easy handles to use after your brownies are done cooling. It also helps to spray those too because it helps the paper stick to the sides of the pan and gets into those pesky corners. PS – This requires a 9-inch pan if you didn’t get that already.

Sift and mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

You could melt all of your butter and chocolate the hard way (with a pan over a pan of barely boiling water, blah blah) but if you just REALLY pay attention for like 3 minutes, you can just do it either in the microwave or on your stovetop. I do stovetop because it forces me to pay attention. Throw your chocolate, butter, vanilla extract and oil in your pan and let melt on low heat. It will take a little patience and stirring but soon you will have smooth, silky chocolate. Just pay close attention and stir often and turn it off once most of the chocolate is melted. The rest of it will melt with the residual heat. In the microwave do the same with a bowl and check your chocolate/butter mixture every 10-15 seconds stirring each time. Eventually you will have easy, beautiful and silky chocolate ready to be used!

Let your chocolate cool for a minute or two and then add in the sugar. Stir, stir, stir. Add the eggs and sour cream and beat them in until everything is perfect looking. Add the wet to the dry and only incorporate until everything is JUST mixed.

Pour the batter into your pan. And concentrate on the tart yumminess about to grace this dark presence.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl:

¼ c. seedless raspberry jam
2 T. cream cheese, at room temperature

Throw in a bowl and zap in the microwave for about 25 seconds (and then again maybe for 10 seconds if needed). Mix together well with a fork or whisk to combine. Make sure it is smooth before dolloping over the brownie batter.

I just take huge spoonfuls of this mixture and throw it on top of the brownies. Mix with a butter knife (they make great swirls) and go over it and mix and make it look as pretty as you want to.

Bake for 30 minutes for “super fudge-like you will need a plate just to eat these” brownies or cook for about 40 minutes for more firm but still dark and to die for brownies. Let cool for at least an hour before de-panning.