Heart-Shaped Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Eat your heart out! These heart-shaped Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies are as cute as they are delicious. Make them for your Valentine – and save some for yourself ;-).

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I recently discovered that Nutella and cream cheese mixed together is a wonderful thing. I may be behind the times, but now I’m in the know and spreading the word in case any one else is deprived of this information.

Better yet, try that chocolate hazelnut cream cheese concoction swirled on top of fudgy brownies.

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner I decided to bust out my mini brownie heart pans. They turned out really cute! But I must admit I missed having a middle piece from a regular brownie pan.

Also a weird fact I just learned about myself while updating this post exactly 11 years later is that I was a middle piece person. Not sure when I switched to liking edge pieces? In fact, I have no memory of being a middle piece lover in the first place. How do you forget what you like? Losing my mind over here. But I digress…

After making these cute ad delicious hearts (so you can literally eat your heart out), I had some leftover cream cheese topping and had to figure out a way to stop eating it raw by the spoonful, so I spooned it into a ramekin to make a mini Nutella cheesecake. I’d like to thank myself for that one because it was so good even by itself! No wonder these brownies are fantastic.

Want to make them even more decadent? Use this recipe for bourbon fudge brownies instead of the one here and top those with the same Nutella cream cheese swirl. You could also make them gluten-free.

HEART-SHAPED NUTELLA CREAM CHEESE SWIRL BROWNIES

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Yield: 2 dozen Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 15 Minutes 15 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

CREAM CHEESE TOPPING:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/4 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread

BROWNIE BATTER:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two Wilton Petite Silicone 12 Cavity Heart Pans* with cooking spray; set aside.
2. For the cream cheese layer: In a small bowl, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Scrape bowl, add egg, and beat until creamy. Scrape bowl, add Nutella, and beat about one minute or until completely blended. Set aside.
3. For the brownie batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl cream sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time, beat well then add vanilla. Fold into the bowl of dry ingredients until just combined.
4. Pour the brownie batter halfway up into the heart molds. Dollop the cream cheese topping over the brownie batter followed by another dollop of the brownie batter. Swirl with a toothpick.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool, in the pan, on a cooling rack. Gently remove each brownie by pushing from the bottom.
6. Repeat with any remaining batter.

Notes

*You may also cook in an 8 x 8-inch brownie pan for 40-50 mins.

Source: Adapted slightly from Lovin’ from the Oven

Did you make this recipe? I want to see! Tag @THESPIFFYCOOKIE on Instagram and hashtag it #THESPIFFYCOOKIE

Post updated 2/10/22, photo above is the original.