Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

It's our 5th wedding anniversary today :-)  We will be celebrating with a lovely meal tonight - I have a couple of great ideas in mind for a yummy starter and main course and will share the recipes next week.  I hope they come out well!

Raspberry cheesecake brownie

In the meantime, since it is Friday and almost the weekend, it must be treat time, mustn't it?  I don't know about you but I find it really difficult to make the choice between chocolate cake and cheesecake or the healthy option of fruit.  Well, how about having all rolled into one finger-licking cake: a raspberry cheesecake brownie?  This one has the added bonus of a good swig of Amarula liqueur but you could use any cream liqueur or none at all.  With a handful of fresh raspberries giving a good contrast to the rich cake, I think this is just yummy.

Have a lovely weekend!

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies with Amarula (makes 16 brownies in an 8" square tin)

Ingredients for the Brownies

110 g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa)
110 g butter
120 g caster sugar
 60 g plain flour - I had only self-raising flour which meant the brownies were more of a chocolate cake, i.e. fluffier and not so sticky
2 eggs
glug of Amarula or Baileys (optional)

Ingredients for the Cheesecake mix
225 g cream cheese - I used reduced fat cream cheese
40 g caster sugar
1 egg
another generous glug of Amarula/Baileys (optional)

1 large handful of fresh raspberries

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C.
2. Line a 23 cm/8 inch square cake tin with baking parchment. 
3. For the brownies, melt the chocolate together with the butter in a bowl above a pan of boiling water. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar.  Leave to cool slightly (important to avoid scrambled egg brownies).
4. Now beat the eggs one at a time into the brownie mixture, then stir in the Amarula/Baileys if using until well combined.
5. Gradually fold in the flour then pour the mix into the cake tin.
6. For the cheesecake mixture beat the cream cheese and sugar together. 
7. Add the egg, then stir in the Amarula/Baileys if using and stir until well combined. 
8. Pour the cheesecake mix on top of the brownie mixture and using a knife, gently swirl it into the chocolate mixture.
9. Now drop the raspberries on top of the mixture. You could try and space these out, so that each brownie gets at least one raspberry or just throw them on :-)
10. Bake for 30 -35 minutes, or until just set in the middle, then leave to cool in the tin for 15-20 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.

(recipe adapted from butcherbaker.blog.com)