Raspberry Truffle Brownies

I'd been wanting to make these forever. I bought seedless raspberry jam on sale like two months ago specifically so I could use it in this recipe. (Note: seedless raspberry jam is weird in PB&J. Especially if you bought reduced fat peanut butter that tasted gritty. You should learn from my mistakes; I shan't be making either mistake again.) The reason I didn't make them immediately the moment I had all the ingredients was that I did not want Cory and myself to have to eat them all on our own--which is why I jumped at the chance to make something for game night. Hooray for excuses to make good food!

(Note: If you're one of my siblings, you should already have this recipe--I found it in the Taste of Home cookbook Mom gave everybody for Christmas a couple years ago.)

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

BROWNIES:

1 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 lg. eggs
1 tsp. instant coffee crystals (opt.--I had dark hot chocolate mix on hand, so I used that. Regular baking cocoa probably wouldn't hurt either...)

2 tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. all-purpose flour

TRUFFLE FILLING:

1 c. semi-sweet real chocolate morsels
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. seedless red raspberry preserves

GLAZE:

1/4 c. semi-sweet real chocolate morsels
1 tsp. vegetable shortening

BROWNIES: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 9 inch baking pan (I used an 11x7, which is the closest I have to a 9x9). In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate morsels with butter. Cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs together. Add chocolate mixture and coffee crystals dissolved in water, mixing well. Add flour and baking powder, mixing again. Spread evenly into prepared baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
TRUFFLE FILLING: Melt chocolate morsels in heavy saucepan over low heat. Set aside. In small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until fluffy. Beat in raspberry preserves. Add melted chocolate, mixing until well blended. Spread over top of brownies.
GLAZE: (I skipped the glaze, because I was out of chocolate.) In small heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate morsels with shortening. Drizzle over top of truffle mixture.
Chill before cutting.

When I made them they didn't really have time to chill; they were in the freezer for maybe half an hour before we cut them, and it worked fine. But the next day, straight out of the fridge, they were fudgy and even more delicious than before.

In summary, you should make these, because they're amazing.