Rich and decadent fudgu brownies with a swirl of sweet strawberries and slightly tangy cream cheese
Preheat the oven to 325 °F
Use parchment paper to line a 9” loaf pan
Place the butter, cocoa powder, and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds
Stir the mixture and microwave for an additional 30 seconds
Stir again, if the butter is not melted microwave for another 30 seconds
Let sit for 1 minute to cool
Stir in the vanilla, salt, and egg
Add the flour and stir until well combined
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan
In a small bowl microwave the cream cheese for 10 seconds to soften completely, if necessary microwave in additional 5 second intervals until the cream cheese is soft
Add the strawberries and powdered sugar to the softened cream cheese mixture and use a fork to mash the strawberries and combine, when finished you should have a pink cream cheese mixture with some small chunks of strawberries
Pour the strawberry cream cheese over the brownie batter, use a knife to swirl the cream cheese mixture into the top of the brownie batter
Bake at 325 °F for 40 minutes, do NOT overbake, you want the brownies to be fudgy!
Let cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes
Use the parchment paper to lift the brownies out of the pan, cut and serve
You can store the brownies in an air tight container in the fridge for a few days (they will probably keep for up to a week but mine never lasted that long...)
Recipe adapted from Dessert for Two: Sweet & Simple, a cookbook by Christina Lane, the blogger behind Dessert for Two.