Red Velvet Espresso Brownies

Описание: These are dense, moist, fudgy and decadent! Soooooo good!!!!!

I found this idea in a Betty Cookbook and it used a brownie mix instead of a from-scratch recipe.
I used the Betty Crocker recipe for the cream cheese layer and modified an existing brownie recipe that I had. I think I have modified it enough to call this my recipe.

1/2 cup butter (salted or unsalted, if you use salted, omit the salt called for in recipe)
4 oz chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate, if you use unsweetened add 1/4 cup sugar to the 1 cup to make 1 1/4 cups for the sugar the brownie part asks for)
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp red food colour (1 oz or 30ml)
2 tbsp instant espresso powder (this makes for a strongly coffee flavoured brownie that I absolutely LOVED, but if you want a milder flavour add only 1 tbsp)
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt (omit this if you use salted butter like I did, this is a good rule of thumb for any cake or cookie recipe unless indicated otherwise)

Melt butter and chocolate together and stir until smooth and place in large bowl, let cool slightly.
Add white sugar and vanilla and stir.
Add eggs and blend.
Add red food colour and espresso powder and stir it in (*note* I think that this would have been a nice coulour with only half to 3/4 of this amount and I may try reducing this the next time)
Add flour and salt (if using) and blend until smooth.
Reserve one cup of the batter and set it aside.
Line an 8x8" (or 8x10" like I used) with tin foil and grease the foil.
Pour in the batter and spread out evenly.

Cream cheese layer.
8oz of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 egg
1/2 sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp flour
Cream the sugar, cream cheese and vanilla together. Blend in the egg and then add the flour beating until smooth, light and fluffy.

Spoon the cream cheese over the batter in the pan, making as uniform a layer as you can.
Drizzle reserved red batter over top.
Run a spoon or spatula through the layers to swirl them together slightly.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs. The top of the brownie will look dry and will have some cracking in it. Mine took closer to 40 minutes because I am using a glass pan, metal pans are faster. Check brownies every 5 minutes or so at the 25 to 30 minute mark.

Cool completely on wire rack, remove from pan using the tin foil and cut into squares. Make small squares, these are very rich.

Anticipated questions:
-yes you can leave out the coffee or use instant regular coffee if you can't find the espresso
-yes you can leave out the red food colour, but you may have to reduce the flour to 1/2 cup
-yes you can leave out the cream cheese layer

Today's intro graphics by:
   / encoredressage656  
Music by Jason Shaw
   / audionautix