Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

September 7, 2010 By Arlene Mobley

Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Have you ever eaten nutella? I’ll wager most people have. I have seen it in the stores. I have seen it on the web. I have seen it in the magazines. And I have seen it on some food blogs. But I have never eaten it. GASP!! Not until a few days ago that is.

My daughter saw the jar stashed in my baking pantry and actually tried to eat it. Can you believe the nerve? I asked her if she had ever eaten it and she said YES!

I was shocked. I had never bought any. Of course I asked her where and she replied at one of her friends house. DUH of course MOM. Yes I had one of those MOM moments.

My daughter and her friend are so cute. I caught them playing on the web cam. Each one was showing the other one their jar of nutella. Only her friend had THREE jars and was rubbing it in because I wouldn’t let my daughter eat any until I made this recipe.

I know, I am a mean mom. It was pure torture. But hey to be fair I never opened the jar to sneak a taste until I was ready to make my recipe. It was tempting but I knew once I cracked the seal on that baby I was going to have a hard time keeping the kid out of it. So to be safe it stayed sealed up and out of sight in the pantry.
A few days afterI read bell’ alimento’s blog post about playing in a nutella monthly challenge I found a coupon in my newspaper. Was it fate or what that had that coupon showing up when it did? I’m not sure but I took it as a sign. I ripped that baby out and stuck it in my purse so I would have it the next time I went to the grocery store.

So here it is. I wanted to make a spectacular brownie and I think I did. It turned out nice and moist and very tasty. I had to hide them after a small sampling so I could takes some pictures. I figure a recipe is a success if you have to hide it from the family so there is something left for photos.
Next time though I am going to up the amount of nutella in the cream cheese frosting. If you decide to try my recipe keep that in mind.

The brownie portion of the recipe is a compiling of a couple of basic brownie recipes I found on the internet that I tweaked for my own brownie recipe.

Nutella, Brownies, Swirls, Cream Cheese,

Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

How to make Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

INGREDIENTS
Cream Cheese Topping

4 oz Philly Cream Cheese
2 tbs softened butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tbs flour
¼ cup + 2 tbsp Nutella

Brownie Batter

¾ cups all purpose flour
⅓ cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
½ stick of softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees.
Line a 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
Prepare cream cheese topping first.
Beat cream cheese with butter,sugar and flour until smooth.
Scrape bowl and add the egg and beat until creamy.
Scrape bowl again and add Nutella, beat about one minute or until the Nutella is mixed into the cream cheese mixture completely.
Set cheesecake topping aside and mix brownie batter.
Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium sized bowl.
In a small bowl cream sugar, ½ stick of butter,vanilla. Add eggs one at a time beating well in between each egg.
Fold the mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients.
Spread ¾ of the brownie batter into the bottom of the 8 x 8 baking pan.
Using a spatula that has been sprayed with cooking spray spread the thick brownie batter to all 4 corners.
Spread ¾ of the cream cheese topping over the brownie batter.
Randomly dollop the remaining brownie batter and cream cheese topping over the top of the pan. Swirl with a tooth pick or the tip of a knife.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes. For gooey brownies bake for 40 minutes. For a dense cake like brownie bake for 50 minutes.