February 14, 2018
To celebrate Valentines Day this week, I thought I’d post a little recipe that I made this year to get into the loving spirit. Much to the dismay of my partner, I didn’t actually bake these brownies for him (although he did get a taster because I was feeling generous). We had a bake sale at work to support breast cancer, and because it was being held on Valentines Day, I figured why not make it something a bit special?
I have always been a sucker for Valentines Day. It isn’t that I expect to be taken out to dinner and get flowers at work. It is more that I love an excuse to show my partner how much I care about him, and as an excuse to spend some quality time together just the two of us. We are both so busy at the moment, so it presents an opportunity to organise and do something together, and carve out the time for each other. I also love making it a little more special with a little thought out gift or a surprise date, whatever I can do to stand out from what I did the previous year. So although I get hating Valentines Day, I also think it can be really special if you focus on making it just about the two of you.
So enough soppyness! This blog is about food, and I think this is pretty much the best part about Valentines Day. I find my date ideas always revolve around what we are going to eat, or my gifts always have some sort of food element. So even though the brownies I made weren’t for my partner, they would definitely be something perfect for Valentines Day. Because how better to say you love someone than with the best brownies ever? I know this is a big call, but come on, they are brownies with cheesecake on the top. If that doesn’t say love I don’t know what does. Especially because they take chocolate to the next level. I decided to add a bit of a Valentines Day twist as well by making some of the cheesecake batter pink, and sprinkling raspberries around the batter before I baked it. And hey presto, you have the perfect treat to share with your loved one, or yourself (I really think these are almost too good to share).
- 125 grams unsalted butter
- 185 grams dark cooking Chocolate
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 cup plain flour
- 225 grams cream cheese, softened and chopped
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup frozen raspberries
- 2 drops red food dye
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Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line a baking tin with baking paper and set aside.
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Break the chocolate apart and cut up the butter, placing in a microwave safe bowl. Melt this mixture in the microwave until soft, using 30 second intervals and stirring in between until the chocolate is just melted.
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Take the bowl out of the microwave and stir in the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until combine. Add the flour and stir until it is incorporated, then pour this evenly into the baking tin, using a spatula to smooth down the top.
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In another bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, caster sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract, until the mixture has no lumps.
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Seperate the cheesecake batter into two bowls, and add the two drops of red food dye to one bowl. Stir to combine, adding more food dye until you get the desired colour.
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Use a spoon to drop plain and pink cheesecake batter over the brownie batter until you have all the cheesecake batter on the brownie. Use a spatula to spread it evenly on top of the brownie batter, then get a butter knife and swirl the brownie mixture through parts of the top to create a pattern.
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sprinkle the raspberries over the top of the batter, submerging some of them with the knife. Touch up the pattern as needed.
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Cook the brownies for 30-35 minutes or until golden on the top. Although it may be gooey, it will firm up as it cools. Wait until the brownies are completely cool to cut into even pieces.
And that’s all there is to it! I love how simple these brownies are to make, even though they seem quite complicated! I didn’t even need to use my KitchenAid (although I think it would have made the cheesecake batter easier to whisk). Realistically you only need three bowls for this recipe, which makes for minimal washing up! That’s what I love about brownies so much, they are so simple to make, and I’ve never met a person who doesn’t love them. This is a remake of my recipe for the ‘better than everything’ brownies, and those always get rave reviews when I make them.
These brownies would be perfect for that special someone as a sweet treat to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I would probably pop them in a nice box with some paper in the bottom and a nice letter if I were to give these to my partner. I may still give him some because I feel so bad having them in the house and not giving him any, as they are that good! You may also want to make these for friends, and they are a perfect option for a dinner party as a dessert, or even a girls night in front of the tv. You could also just make them for yourself. They are that good that I would definitely polish off a tray to myself if I weren’t giving them to the bake sale!
These are something fun to get you into the Valentine’s Day spirit. You don’t have to add the red food dye if you don’t want to, and you can swap out the raspberries for chocolate chips as well if you have them on hand. It is such a fun recipe to make, and so simple to make, especially with all the variations available! You can really make these to your own, or a special someone’s, tastes.
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
