Shelly's Recipe

*MARBLED CHERRY BROWNIES*

Category: Brownies/Blondies

1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Cherry Cream filling
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup chopped, well drained maraschino cherries
1-2 drops red food color

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch baking pan. Mix together the cocoa and butter until well blended in a small bowl, cool slightly. Beat eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beating until well blended. Stir together dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Add cocoa mixture; stir until blended. Spread half of batter in prepared pan.

Prepare Cherry Cream filling by mixing cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Add egg, vanilla and almond extracts; beat sell. Stir in cherries and food color. Cover brownies in pan with the filling and drop remaining brownies over filling. Swirl with the tip of a knife through the batter to make marbled effect.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the brownies start to pull away from the sides. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Cover and refrigerate leftover brownies and bring to room temperature to serve.

NOTE: I used a brownie mix with chocolate chunks in it instead of making the batter above and added chopped pecans to the batter.