Culinary Corner: Spooky Halloween Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Jesse Duensing, Journalist
October 23, 2017

Hello everyone! Halloween is just around the corner so what better a time to start making all of your favorite sweet treats a tad more spooky? Today, I will be presenting to you a recipe I found on Pinterest, but all credits go to Persnickety Plates at persnicketyplates.com. More recipes can be found on their website as well as a few tips and tricks for this one, but if you want just the full recipe, then look no farther.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Serves 9 brownies

Halloween Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies have a layer of rich, dark chocolate brownie topped with a layer of orange cheesecake then swirled together for a spooky treat.

Ingredients

For the Brownie Layer

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Layer

  • 1 brick (8oz) cream cheese, at room temp
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • orange food coloring

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 baking dish with parchment paper or foil and spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.

For the brownie layer

  1. In a medium bowl, add the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.
  2. In a small bowl, add the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Mix with a fork until well combined.

  3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until just combined.

  4. Reserve ¼ cup of the batter for the swirls then pour the remaining batter into the prepared baking dish.

For the cream cheese layer

  1. In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese, sugar, egg, & vanilla. Blend until smooth.
  2. Add in the orange food coloring and stir to combine.
  3. Gently spread the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie batter.
  4. Drop tablespoons of the remaining brownie batter on top and gently swirl with a knife or skewer.
  5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set. Remove and let cool completely before slicing.

One thing I found out for the food coloring on the cream cheese is to get the right color, you will want a decent amount of each. In total, I think I used about 20-30 drops of each color. I used yellow and red to get orange.