Happy February! We have finally entered the month of love and friendship. More importantly, we are excited to share with you the first of several inspirational posts from our Galentine’s Day Blog Series! Over the next two weeks, we will be sharing with you some recipes and crafts from our own Galentine’s Day celebration that hopefully inspire you to throw your own girls night in or afternoon brunch with your girls! Valentine’s Day is always a fun time to celebrate with your significant other, but we like to use this time of year to really celebrate our girlfriends for being the amazing friends that they are! They are the real reason we can get through the good and the bad times, they are always there for you no matter what, and our girls inspire us to be a better woman every day! 🙂 What would we do with our girlfriends, right!?
We kick off our Galentine’s Day Blog Series with these drool-worthy Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie Hearts! Not only are they cute, they are delicious! 🙂 Come on…if the opportunity presents itself to combine a brownie, red-velvet, and cheesecake into one dessert, count us in! We got the inspiration for this recipe from the incredible Lil Luna (be sure to take a moment and check out some of her stuff — she is awesome!).
We highly recommend baking some of these for your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day, or join us and serve them at your Galentine’s Day celebration!
Things to Know Upfront/Quick Tips
- A large baking sheet (jelly roll pan) is necessary to bake these (10 x 15 or larger)
- You will need a medium sized Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter
What You Need
Brownie Ingredients:
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable/canola oil
- 5 Tbsp. milk (divided 3 Tbsp./2 Tbsp.)
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp. red food coloring
- 2 Tbsp. white vinegar
Cheesecake Ingredients:
- 16 oz. (2 oz. packs) cream cheese (softened)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Step By Step
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Take your jelly roll pan and spray with non-stick spray (Baker’s Joy)
Start by making your brownie base:
- In a large bowl, whisk your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine your eggs, vegetable oil, milk (2 Tbsp.), vanilla, white vinegar, and red food coloring.
- Stir in your wet ingredients in with your dry ingredients. Stir until completely combined. It will be thick.
- Remove a 3/4 cup of the brownie mixture and set aside in another bowl. Whisk in the rest of your milk (3 Tbsp.).
- Pour your brownie mixture into the jelly roll pan. Smooth out the batter to the edges of the pan.
Now, let’s make our cheesecake:
- In a bowl, beat with a stand/hand mixer your cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add your eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
- Pour your cheesecake mixture on top of the brownie mixture and spread to the edges.
- Drop spoonfuls of the brownie mixture you set aside on top of the cheesecake mixture in the pan.
- With a knife, drag the tip throughout the mixture to create swirls.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is set. You don’t want it to bubble or crack. That means it has over-baked.
- Let it cool completely before cutting your hearts out with a cookie cutter.
