Red Velvet Brownies

A couple months ago, I was complaining that we didn't have enough snow days. Seriously, just one the whole winter. Well, I'm not going to complain now. The school board decided to give us, teachers and students, an extra holiday on Monday to use up our snow days! Awesome.

So I went up to Lexington and had an exciting day off. First, I made brownies. Brown butter brownies that tasted seriously amazingly fudge-y and chocolate-y. I couldn't tell if browning the butter really made a difference, but either way I thought it was delicious and so did the people I shared them with. I forgot, however, to take a picture so maybe I'll make them again another time just for that. But just go ahead to the recipe now because I didn't change a single thing and they turned out great.

But I will share with you another brownie recipe. (I've been on a brownie kick recently!) Have you ever had Red Velvet Cake before? Try the cake before you have these brownies because it is so much better. The first time I had Red Velvet Cake was about 3 years ago during my junior year in college when a housemate's dad visited during Parents Weekend. He had brought over the cake from a bakery in town and it was amazing. It was so moist and I was fascinated by the color. And the cream cheese frosting was also heavenly.



These Red Velvet Brownies aren't nearly as moist and crumbly like the cake. Or maybe it just doesn't stay that way the day after as the cake does, but it's still yummy. I did leave out the chocolate chips, but I think that was better as it would've been too much chocolate and too much sweet especially with the frosting. Instead of using the white chocolate frosting, I went for cream cheese frosting and slathered that on top. If you want to try the white chocolate one, visit the original post since I replaced it below.



The other exciting thing I did on my day off was learn how to shoot guns! I went on a friend's property where we used empty water bottles and pizza boxes as targets. It was a fun experience and I'd like to go again! My only problem is my shoulder was still pretty sore for a couple days afterwards, so it sucked to have to write on a chalkboard. I think it's feeling a lot better today though so I can write right-handed all the time! My left-handed writing wasn't terrible, but apparently it looks like a 5th grader wrote it...

Enjoy the brownies :)

Red Velvet Brownies
Brownies from Pass the Sushi

3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp red food coloring
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup chocolate chips (I left this out)

8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 8x8 baking dish (or 9x13 for flat brownies).

Stir together cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a small bowl; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in cocoa powder mixture, beating until batter is completely red (add more food coloring if desired). Stir in flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the icing. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is desired consistency.