Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

Did the title reel you in?  How heavenly do these sound?  Brownies are always fabulous,  raspberries might be my favorite fruit and cream cheese of course is a gift from God Himself.  So the thought of combining all of these things into one dish just blew my mind.

I'm a very big fan of boxed brownies, so the decision to make some from scratch was not a light one.  If the boxed variety works so well, why bother going through all the motions just to come out with the same thing?  Well, that's where these brownies differ.

I don't know how to explain it, but they have a completely different texture than boxed brownies do.  The raspberries perfectly complement the dark chocolate, while the cream cheese add the perfect amount of softness to the brownies.

My other favorite thing about these brownies is that they could be easily adapted to suit your taste.  Don't like raspberries?  Use strawberry jam.  Try out orange.  Get creative and find the combo you love!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies courtesy of Brown Eyed Baker
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 1/2 C granulated sugar, divided
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, divided
2/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 C raspberry jam, divided
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 and line 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper along the bottom of the dish.  Lightly grease the dish.

Chopping the dark chocolate...I might have

snuck a bite ;)

Process cream cheese, 1/4 C granulated sugar, egg yolk and 1/4 tsp vanilla in food processor until smooth (I used a hand held mixer in a separate bowl).  Set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.  Set aside.  Microwave butter and chocolate in separate bowl until melted and smooth, opening microwave periodically to stir.    Whisk 1/4 C raspberry jam into chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.  Allow to cool slightly.

Add remaining 1 1/4 C sugar, the 3 eggs, and remaining 1 1/4 tsp vanilla to chocolate mixture, stirring until combined.  Add flour mixture and stir until incorporated.

Microwave remaining raspberry jam until smooth and slightly melted (about 30 sec).  Stir to smooth and cool.  Scrape half of brownie mixture into pan, top with cream cheese mixture.  Smooth out to get even.  Then top with raspberry jam.  *This is where I added my layer of fresh raspberries.  Spread remaining brownie batter over top.

Fresh raspberries over top the cream cheese

And the final layer of chocolate batter...

Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely (approximately 2 hours) before removing from pan.

Layers of chewy, moist goodness