Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Brownies

Wow. Where have I been? Busy=/ And I just haven't been too inspired to blog. It's probably because of these subpar photos. Usually if I take pretty decent photos I'm more willing to blog. And why not? If I have great pictures I'm much more willing to show it off in a blog post. But taking pictures of my food often frustrates me=( I don't enjoy wasting time setting up a perfect light reflective area to take optimum pictures while my food grows cold.

And these pictures are pretty bad. These bars aren't very well cut and have poor backgrounds. The photos were taken late at night so the lighting is messed up. But I just hope they don't scare you too badly.

Because they are delicious! If you've been reading my blog, you'll know I'm not a big fan of chocolate desserts. Just look through my post history. But, when chocolate is balanced with another flavor, it gets a thumnbs-up. So we have a brownie base then a cheesecake layer SWIRLED WITH RASPBERRY JAM. I brought these in for a bake sale, and they sold in literally 5 minutes. So, even though they don't look so hot in these photos, they were certainly enjoyed by all!

*My only comment: they were super gooey in the middle. Normally I'm all for underbaked goodies, but I would suggest triple checking for doneness when baking these.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies
from Baking Bites

 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
 2-oz dark chocolate, chopped
 1 cup sugar
 2 large eggs
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 2/3 cup flour
 2 tbsp cocoa powder
 1/4 tsp salt

 8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
 1/3 cup sugar
 1 large egg
 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
 1/3 cup raspberry preserves/jam
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
 In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir with a fork until very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

 In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisking steadily, pour chocolate mixture into sugar mixture. Stir until smooth. Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt into the bowl and stir until just combined.
 Pour into prepared pan and prepare cheesecake mixture.
 In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Drop in dollops onto prepared brownie batter. Drop dollops of raspberry preserves into the cheesecake batter. Gently swirl batters with a butter knife, giving the brownies a swirly look.

 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.
 Cool in the pan completely before slicing and serving, either at room temperature or chilled.
 Brownies can be refrigerated, covered, for several days.

Makes 16 brownies