Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies are certainly a welcome change from your average dessert. Because we all love our chocolate and fruit jams and preserves it only makes sense to combine them. Flavorsome and very enticing of appearance is an area in which such treats as raspberry cheesecake brownies really come in to play.

In general cheesecake brownies tend to be looked upon by one and all with considerable anticipation. Unfortunately when presented time and time again with a stock standard vanilla only flavored topping they can begin to lose some of their appeal. It’s a familiarity thing, really. Hence the raspberry swirls.

Raspberries

The part that raspberries play in this recipe is to add that something extra that differentiates a good recipe from a great one.

Not only do the raspberries bring a whole host of new flavors, juiciness and extra sweetness to the party but they also add an incredible splash of color that contrasts the creamy appearance so typical of a cheesecake.

Brownie Base Ingredients:

• 2 Ounces of Dark Chocolate
• 1 Cup of Sugar
• ¾ Cup of Flour
• ½ Cup of Butter
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
• 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• ¼ Teaspoon of Sea Salt

Cheesecake Topping Ingredients:

• 8 Ounces (about 225 Grams) of Cream Cheese
• ½ Cup each of Sugar and Raspberry Preserves/Raspberry Jam
• 1 Large Egg
• ½ Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Method:

Preparation – Let butter and cream cheese warm to room temperature. Medium fine chop the chocolate. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. We will be using a 20 cm (about 8 inches) square baking pan for this recipe so line the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease lightly

Melt and Combine Butter and Chocolate – Select a small heatproof bowl, add in and melt together the butter and chocolate. Stir continually with a fork until the mixture becomes very smooth. Now set the bowl with the butter/chocolate mix to one side to cool for a few minutes.

Combine Sugar, Eggs and Vanilla Extract – Select a large mixing bowl and whisk together the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until they are well combined

Combine Both Mixtures – Now; while whisking steadily, pour the chocolate mix into the sugar mix. Continue whisking until all ingredients are thoroughly combined and the blended mixture becomes silky smooth.

Add Dry Ingredients – Sift the flour, cocoa powder and sea salt into the combined chocolate/sugar mix created in the previous stage. Stir until all ingredients are just combined.

Pouring Combined Mixture – At this point you can pour this combined mixture into the baking pan you prepared a little earlier. Now move on to getting the cheesecake component ready.

Prepare Cheesecake Mixture – Select a medium sized mixing bowl and add in the room temperature cream cheese, ½ cup of sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Beat these ingredients until they become nice and smooth.

Final Assembly – We are now going to finalize the assembly of our Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie prior to baking it.

1. Start by using a spoon to transfer dollops of the cream cheese mixture onto the top of the brownie base mixture already in the baking pan
2. Then add three or four teaspoon sized dollops of the raspberry preserves/jam onto the top of the cheesecake mixture already in the baking pan
3. At this point take a butter knife and use it to gently swirl the brownie base batter, the cheesecake batter and the raspberry preserves/jam that are already in the baking tray. The object is to give the end result a swirly appearance with the various layers intermingling somewhat.
4. Now add the remaining raspberry preserves/jam to the rest of the cheesecake batter and once again use a butter knife to swirl them together (note that the object here is to give the mixture a swirly appearance as opposed to a thoroughly combined uniform one
5. Once satisfied; use a spoon to add dollops of the raspberry/cheesecake mix onto the top of the contents already in the baking tin. Give the mix one last swirl with the butter knife and transfer to the preheated oven.

Baking – Bake until both the brownies and the cheesecake are set (usually around 35-40 minutes). You can test to see the raspberry cheesecake brownies progress by inserting a knife into the cheesecake mixture and then withdrawing it. If the knife came out nice and clean and the edges of the raspberry cheesecake brownie are lightly browned it is ready to remove from the oven.

Cooling - It is most advisable to let the raspberry cheesecake brownie to cool in the pan completely before slicing, serving and consuming. This can be done either at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Serving- This raspberry cheesecake brownie recipe yields between 20 and 30 brownies depending upon the size of the slices. Although it can be served at room temperature or chilled I always serve it chilled straight out of the refrigerator with the odd dollop of whipped cream on top. We also usually place a glazed cherry on top of the whipped cream.

Storage – The raspberry cheesecake brownie can be kept for several days refrigerated.

Tips – This particular recipe works best if you don’t swirl too much of the raspberries into the brownie section (just a little to give the Raspberry cheesecake brownie that morphing/merging effect. So do try to keep at least 80% of the raspberries confined to the cheesecake layer.

Enjoy!