Feeling romantic? Want to make something special for the one you love? Maybe you feel like doing something sincere for a close friend? We all know that food is a much appreciated gift. Cookies, cakes, brownies, sweets - you name it and more than likely the other person has some form of a sweet tooth. Even the most healthy people generally have a small cookie or ice cream fetish every now and again. Here's a loving gift idea that kicks up your normal brownie recipe a notch and makes for a beautiful dessert display after a delicious meal at a dinner party. Not only that, it's fairly easy to do!
So this might look like your normal brownie, but no, no, no, no, no!
This is a cream-cheese brownie!
To add a bit of color and a new flavor to your favorite recipe just pop half a stick of cream cheese in the microwave for half a minute until it is soft. (any of our bowls can be used to heat up cream cheese - so long as it doesn't have gold on it.)
Next add a ton of red food coloring to the cream-cheese and mix it up as best you can.
(I know the color looks outrageous now, but after it's baked, it's not quite as shocking). After spraying a glass cooking pan with oil, spread the brownie batter and then use a knife to marbleize the pink cream-cheese throughout the brownie.
After fully cooking, while it is still warm (but not too hot), use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out a number of hearts.
It heats up REALLY REALLY fast! So depending on how much you let the brownie cool (or how hot you'd like to serve it to your guests), you might need to be creative with the way you remove the cookie-cutter.
Lastly place it on the tray and top it off with some raspberry whipped cream. You can make this by whipping heavy cream and a bit of sugar in a mixer until whipped cream forms. Then add about a tablespoon of seedless raspberry jam and mix it thoroughly - not too much though, otherwise you'll lose the fluff! (with the jam added it'll naturally be less stiff, but will taste amazing with the cream-cheese brownie!) A filleted strawberry makes a natural heart shape, and adds even more sweetness to this chocolate, cream-cheese, sweet fruit delicious heart-sweller of a dessert.
Want to give it as a gift? Forgo the whipped cream and instead take a square of Saran wrap and place it flat on the counter. Place the tray in the middle of the plastic wrapping, gather the corners above the brownie, and tie it with a pretty red ribbon and a little note expressing your love. You can even use your own thumb prints and a red ink pad to create a heart on the note somewhat similar to the design on the tray.
