Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredient
Brownies
6 T butter, melted
1 C white sugar
1 T vanilla
2 eggs
1 C flour
1/3 C cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Cheesecake
1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 C white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C sour cream
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Cherries
1 10-oz pkg frozen pitted, whole black cherries, thawed in fridge overnight
2 T white sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
Directions
Set oven at 350 degrees and grease a 9×9 square baking pan.
Cherries: Place cherries and juice from their bag into a food processor and blend for 30 seconds. Press blended cherries through a sieve to separate the pulp and the juice. Reserve pulp for later and put juice in a small saucepan. Stir in cornstarch and sugar and then, while stirring constantly to avoid burning, place juice mixture on medium high heat until it thickens. This takes only a couple of minutes. Pour thickened juice into a bowl to cool.
Cheesecake: Cream sugar and cream cheese together until thoroughly blended. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla and blend well. Then add salt and sour cream and mix until all combined. Place the finished cheesecake batter off to the side until the brownies come out of the oven.
Brownies: Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix butter and sugar and blend. Add egg and vanilla and stir until combined. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until everything just comes together. Mix in the reserved cherry pulp and then spread the brownies into the pan. Bake 20 minutes until they puff on top but are not close to being done. Remove from oven.
Take 1/3 of the cherry juice and drizzle directly on the warm brownies.
Spoon the entire cheesecake batter on the top of the brownies and then drizzle the remaining juice on top of that.
Use a butter knife to create swirls in the juice by sticking the tip a half inch into the cheesecake and moving your hand in a circular movement.
Put pan in oven for 25 minutes or until cheesecake is firm on the edges but when the pan is moved, the center still slightly jiggles.
Refrigerate 5 hours or overnight. Remove from fridge and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.