Red Velvet Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

I saw these brownies a few days ago over at Baked Perfection and I knew, just KNEW that I had to make them. And as soon as possible. Not only are they red velvet, but they have cream cheese. And, amazingly enough, I had never actually made homemade brownies before. So these went straight on my "To-Make" List!

There seems to be a red velvet craze going around lately. It seems that I see it everywhere, from blogs to the Food Network, even the grocery store! And its a good thing, too, because I happen to really like red velvet! I remember hating it when I was younger, I honestly don't know what I was thinking. The only excuse could be that maybe I'd only had the box mix kind.

These, however, are awesome. Tender, moist, flavorful. I'm glad that I took the pan to work, because I would have eaten the entire thing. All by myself. Every last crumb. And then probably searched for crumbs.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

red velvet layer:
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa
pinch salt
1 tbsp red food coloring
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour

cream cheese layer:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat an oven to 350 Degrees
Butter an 8x8 brownie pan.

Brownie layer:
In a large bowl, add the melted butter. In order, add the butter, sugar, vanilla, cocoa, salt, food coloring and vinegar, mixing between additions.
In a separate small bowl, whisk the eggs.
Add to the cocoa mixture.
Fold in the flour.
Pour batter into the prepared pan, saving 1/4 cup of the batter for later.

Cream Cheese layer:
Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Gently spread on top of the batter.

Dollop remaining brownie on top of the cream cheese layer.
Using a knife, drag through the dollops to create a pattern.

Bake for 30 minutes.
Cool before eating.