Nutella Cream Cheese Brownies

I didn't have a chance to take a photo of these, but Lovin the Oven has a beautiful one.

I made these for my brother's confirmation last weekend. I didn't have Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, so I just used the regular unsweetened cocoa powder. These were yummy, but I think they would have been amazing with the dark cocoa powder, oh well. I added dark chocolate chips to try to get the dark chocolate flavor. It didn't quite get the flavor, but I liked the texture of the chips. I really liked the blend of Nutella and chocolate.

Recipe adapted from Lovin the Oven

INGREDIENTS

Cream Cheese Topping

* 5 oz Philly Cream Cheese
* 2 tbs softened butter
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar - 1.75 ounces
* 1 egg
* 1 tbs flour
* 1/2 cup Nutella

Brownie Batter

* 3/4 cups all purpose flour - 3.19 ounces
* 1/3 cup Hersheys Special Dark Cocoa - 1 ounce
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 stick of softened butter
* 1 cup granulated sugar - 7 ounces
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2 large eggs
* 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat oven to 350'
2. Grease and line a 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray.

Cream cheese frosting

1. Cream together butter, sugar and flour. Add cream cheese and mix/blend until smooth. Scrape bowl and add the egg and beat until the topping is nice and creamy. Scrap bowl and add Nutella, beat about one minute or until the Nutella is mixed into the cream cheese mixture completely.
2. Set topping aside and mix brownie batter.

Brownie batter

1. Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium sized bowl.
2. In a small bowl cream sugar and 1/2 stick of butter, add eggs one at a time, beat well then add vanilla.
3. Fold egg, sugar, butter and vanilla mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients.
4. Spread 3/4 of the brownie batter into the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish.
5. Randomly dollop the cream cheese topping over the brownie batter.
6. Randomly dollop the rest of the brownie batter on top of the cream cheese batter. Swirl with the tip of a knife.
7. Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes.