Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Here it is friends (this means you, Jena G!)--The recipe for the red velvet cream cheese brownies I made Joey for Valentine's Day!


Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies
Recipe: Sunny Anderson

Red Velvet Brownie Layer:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup cocoa powder

Pinch salt

1 tablespoon red food coloring

1 teaspoon vinegar

2 eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I left these out)

Cream Cheese Layer:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Special equipment: 8 by 8-inch baking pan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking pan, and set aside.

Brownie layer: In a saucepan on medium heat melt the butter. Remove the butter to a large bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, in that order, mixing between additions. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and stir it into the cocoa mix. Fold in the flour until lightly combined. Stir in the walnuts and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, saving 1/4 cup of the batter for the top.

Cream cheese layer: Blend together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Gently spread the cream cheese layer on top of the brownie batter in the pan. Dollop the remaining brownie batter over the cream cheese layer. Using a skewer or the tip of a knife, drag the tip through the cream cheese mixture to create a swirl pattern. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before cutting.

A Very Lovely Valentines

Isn't Valentine's Day wonderful? Even when I was single, I never really hated it. There is always someone in your life that you can say 'hey, I love ya, and I'm so glad you're a part of my life'.  Well, for two Valentine's Days now, I've been blessed to have a special someone to just say 'hey, I love ya' to. I'm so grateful that I have Joey in my life. He is my best friend, my love, my confidant, my sounding board, my cheer leader, my everything.

Even though Joey and I like Valentine's Day, we don't love all of the commercialism and craziness that can go with it. We like to have a pretty low key day. No singing cards, no stuffed animals, absolutely no roses, no going out--just a thoughtful gift, a letter to each other, and a meal we cook together.

Joey did surprise me with some tulips--my favorite!

Joey got me a game of Phase 10 because we really like to play games together, but he also wrote something on every single card--yellows were things we love, greens were favorite memories, reds were things he loves about me, and blues were promises for our future. 

For Joey, I did a little inspiration searching and finally designed this print to hang in our future home. He loves that I design and paint and is always saying he wants me to design pieces for our home, and since Virginia is so special to us, I thought this would be perfect.

Lastly, I made him a batch of red velvet and cream cheese brownies for a little twist on one of his favorite desserts (recipe coming soon!).

And for today, we are heading off to Richmond to see the touring production of The Lion King! 

Carving Your Love on a Tree

Am I a terrible person if I say that I've always wanted to do this?

I suppose getting one of these charming jewelry pieces from Uncommon Goods is a better alternative...

Creative Valentines

Well, I have definitely been bitten by the love bug and am actively participating in Valentines Day this year. And I couldn't be more excited. I've never hated the holiday or anything, its just that I never had a special someone during the holiday, and I was usually at rehearsal for some show or another anyways. But this year I am so excited to spend Valentines with my sweet valentine.

And of course, me being the perfectionist that I am, I want to find the perfect gift, card, gesture, etc...Boy, can that be tough! You have to find the perfect balance--not too cheesy, but still sentimental, not cliche, but still romantic, has to show that it comes from the heart....and for me, no store bought card or item from the Valentines Day aisle will do to give someone.

So, rather than do my homework (because who wants to do that, really?) I perused google for creative valentine ideas, not necessarily to use, but I thought I needed to do a little research on this holiday that is rather new to me--I mean let's face it, the last time i really considered valentines was when I was picking out a box of Princess cards to hand out in 2nd grade. But anyways....

This library card catalogue valentine is just so charming and so personal--a great way to record memories and look back on shared experiences. I think things like this and hand written letters are so special and say so much more than a two dollar hallmark card. So sweet!