Easiest ever strawberry cream cheese brownies

Once in awhile, I like to post a recipe. I'm a bit of a brownie fiend, so I like to experiment with the Ghirardelli brownie mixes from Costco. These are a good deal...you get 6 mixes for about NT$350. And you really can't screw these up too badly---all you need to add is an egg, some water, and some oil.

Now that Costco is selling strawberry-flavored cream cheese, I decided to combine the brownie mix with the cream cheese spread to create a chocolate-strawberry concoction.

I threw a few chocolate chips on top, and voila!

And then I gave one to my husband...still warm out of the oven...with a little vanilla ice cream on top. He called it "pure perfection."

Want the recipe? Here you go!

Ingredients:

One brownie mix

About 1 1/2 cups of cream cheese (I prefer the flavored kinds from Costco...in this recipe, you'll use 1/2 of the carton)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar

red food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan. Preheat your oven, of course.

2. Make the brownies first. Follow the directions on the box. If you use the Ghirardelli mixes, you'll add 1 egg, 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup oil. Spread the brownie mix in the pan.

3. Mix the cream cheese (1 block, 1 tub or 1/2 carton of the Costco kind) with 1 egg and 1/3 cup sugar. Add red food coloring if you want a prettier look. I mix this with a mixer so it's all nice and smooth. Just mixing by hand won't work as well.

4. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the brownie mixture. Swirl with a knife to make it look pretty.

5. Bake for about 35-45 minutes. Baking time all depends on your oven. Bake at 320 degrees...or 160 degrees if you're using a Taiwan oven. I'm not very scientific on the baking times or temperatures. I just know how my little convection oven works, so I apologize that I'm a little vague on this part.

Don't overbake, though...nobody likes rock-hard brownies.

ENJOY! Let me know if you try my recipe!