Red Velvet Brookies

A short stint in the oven heats the batter of these bar cookies enough to ensure smooth swirling of the cream cheese. Be sure to use whipped cream cheese and not just the spreadable variety.

red velvet brookies
Photo: Jason Donnelly
Prep Time:
30 mins
Bake Time:
30 mins
Total Time:
1 hrs
Servings:
32
Yield:
32 bars

Ingredients

Sugar Cookies

  • ½ cup butter, softened

  • 1 cup sugar

  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

  • ¼ teaspoon salt

  • 1 egg

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Red Velvet Brownies

  • 2 cup all-purpose flour

  • 2 cup sugar

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • ¼ teaspoon salt

  • 1 cup butter, cut up

  • ½ cup water

  • cup unsweetened cocoa powder

  • 2 eggs

  • ½ cup buttermilk or sour milk

  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

  • 1 1 ounce bottle liquid red food coloring (2 Tbsp.)

  • 1 8 ounce carton whipped cream cheese

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 15x10-inch baking pan. For cookies, in a large bowl beat butter with a mixer on medium to high 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl as needed. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in flour.

  2. Drop rounded tablespoons of cookie dough over bottom of prepared pan.

  3. For brownies, in a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

  4. In a medium saucepan combine butter, water, and cocoa powder. Bring just to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Whisk cocoa mixture into flour mixture until combined. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring; whisk until combined. Pour batter over dough in pan. Drop mounds of cream cheese evenly over batter. Bake 10 minutes. Swirl cream cheese into batter.

  5. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and swirl cream cheese gently into batter with a table knife. Return to oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until set and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.* Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

*Tip

If necessary to prevent overbrowning, cover bars with foil the last 10 minutes of baking.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

210 Calories
10g Fat
29g Carbs
2g Protein
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 32
Calories 210
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 10g 13%
Saturated Fat 6g 30%
Cholesterol 43mg 14%
Sodium 174mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate 29g 11%
Total Sugars 19g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 0.1mg 1%
Calcium 20mg 2%
Iron 0.8mg 4%
Potassium 52mg 1%
Folate, total 24.5mcg
Vitamin B-12 0.1mcg

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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