Cherry Swirl Brownies

Have you been watching the Kids Baking Championship on Food Network? Those kids are seriously talented! The fact that they can make all the things they do in such a short amount of time is pretty impressive. I'm pretty sure they will be outbaking me within the next year! ;-)

Cherry and chocolate go together like peanut butter and jelly. These rich brownies encompass this brilliant combination. They have a cherry cream cheese swirl that adds a nice creaminess and cherry flavor. You can adjust the intensity of chocolate by the kind of chocolate you decide to use. If you want a really intense chocolate flavor, use bittersweet or semi sweet. If you want a sweeter less intense chocolate flavor, then mix in some milk chocolate.

Recipe:

Spray a 9x13 inch pan with non stick cookie spray and preheat oven to 350

Melt butter and 1 1/2 cups of chocolate in a double boiler

Remove from heat and mix in the brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.

Blend in the eggs one at a time. Then stir in the almond extract and set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt together. Then gradually add

to the chocolate mixture, blending after each addition.

Stir in remaining chocolate chips and set aside.

In a medium size bowl mix the cream cheese,1/2 cup sugar, and eggs together.

Blend in the maraschino cherry juice and cherry oil.

Add food coloring (if desired)

Stir in the cherries.

Spread 3/4 of the brownie batter evenly in the pan.

Spread the cherry filling on top.

Top the remaining brownie batter in spoonfuls on top.

Take a knife and swirl together.

Bake for 48-54 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when

inserted into pan.Cool before serving about 30-50 minutes, then cut into bars.

(I made an icing with some extra cherry juice and vanilla canned frosting)