Strawberry Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

First native strawberries of the season!

I meant to make strawberry shortcake last week. Truly. I bought gorgeous native berries at Berruti’s Harvest House and kind of nibbled at them over the past few days…till just a handful remained. That’s not enough for shortcake, but is just the right amount for strawberry cheesecake swirl brownies.

Similar to the “Supernatural” Key Lime Cheesecake Swirl Brownies I made for Mother’s Day, these combine brownie batter with a flavored cheesecake, but use my all-time favorite brownie recipe from Ghirardelli instead–the one right on the canister.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE SWIRL BROWNIES

BROWNIE BATTER
Prepare using the Ghiradelli Award Winning Brownies recipe on the canister of Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa: no walnuts and no chocolate chips.

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE BATTER
8 oz. Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon key lime juice

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup strawberries, cut in small chunks
½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8″ x 8″ pan with butter and set aside.

To strawberries, add sugar, vanilla and key lime juice. Let ‘em get nice and juicy.

Pour some sugar on me--in the name of...brownies!

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese for about a minute until smooth and creamy. Beat in egg and key lime juice till well incorporated.

When the strawberries are juicy like this, stir them into the cheesecake batter.

Prepare brownie batter. Pour into buttered pan, reserving 1/2 cup of batter. Pour cheesecake mixture over brownie batter. Spoon the remaining brownie batter in large dollops over the cheesecake mixture. Use a butter knife to swirl the batters and create a marbled effect.

Bake till cheesecake top begins to brown at edges and pulls from the side of the pan, about 45-50 minutes. Set on a rack to cool.