Red Velvet Almond Cheesecake Brownies

Red Velvet Almond Cheesecake Brownies

Great treat for the 4th of July! You have red and white--now add some blue (berries?) LOL.

I have been wanting to make these since I saw them almost non-stop around Valentine's Day.

I honestly have never eaten red velvet cake and had no idea what it tasted like. I had to ask a friend!!!

Anyway, decided to do these this weekend and used Food Network's recipe as a guide. I ALWAYS change things and wanted a basic type of recipe for this that I could work with.

They're pretty easy, but be warned, no matter how careful you are, your hands will look like you did a murder from the red food coloring. I've heard there's ways to avoid using that and still have them come out red, but frankly, I didn't feel like bothering!!!!

Anyway, here's how I did it, and enjoy!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa (not dutch processed)
• 1 tbs red food coloring
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• Cheesecake topping:
• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs toasted almonds for topping

Melt butter over low heat in a small saucepan or microwave on high for about 30 seconds.

Grease or spray a 8 x 8-inch pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When butter has slightly cooled, pour it in a medium bowl. Add the sugar, and using a wire whisk, whisk the sugar into the melted butter. Add the almond extract and whisk well to combine. Whisk in the cocoa powder. Add the food coloring and blend well. Add the vinegar and whisk. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. (Although the directions may sound wordy, you must do EACH operation separately!!!)

Fold in the flour and the toasted almonds. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the batter and spread the rest into the prepared pan.

With an electric mixer in a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and almond extract, blending until smooth.

Place dollops of the cheesecake mixture on top of the brownie batter in the pan. Distribute the remaining 1/4 cup of the red batter on top of the cheesecake batter.

Using a knife, swirl the batters so marbling occurs, but batters do NOT mix. Sprinkle top with the 2 tbs toasted almonds.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven an cool completely on a rack.

Serves 9 (9 brownies)

Red Velvet Almond Cheesecake Brownies

Red Velvet Almond Cheesecake Brownies