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Summer’s not over yet!

I needed these Orange Cream Cheese Brownies with Nutella just to get me through today, because orange screams SUMMER, right? We are in mid-August, when it should be the hottest, but there was a chill in the air, it was cloudy, and a dismal 65 degrees. 🙁 It looked like winter skies above me.

So, of course, the big topic at work was the weather, and while I was chatting about it with some friends at work, everything very quickly went downhill from there….

I love summer and someone tries ruining it by stating this ugly, vicious rumor that the Midwest is in for a Polar Vortex in mid-September!

Whhaaa? Are you kidding me?

Umm…What exactly is a Polar Vortex, I daresay???? It sounds despicably, evil! I couldn’t help myself, I googled the ‘bad words’…it’s ugly, it’s vicious…it’s hopefully just a rumor I keep telling myself.

Definition: A Polar Vortex is a persistent, large-scale cyclone that circles either of the planet’s geographical poles. (“Recently, different trends in our typical weather pattern have forced it to come down into territories that don’t usually see this cold of temperatures.”) Oh…NICE!

I think to myself, “Wait??!! I thought we only got *these* in the winter, and that’s what we had MOST of the winter of 2013!! It was so miserable and those bone-chilling temps were in the double negatives, something you don’t forget. Have I ever told you how much I loathe winter and bitter cold temperatures? Yup…cold makes me cranky and I can’t function.

So, do you see where I’m coming from?

Ugh…So I had to bring back some much needed sunshine and make these Orange Cream Cheese Brownies. Soft and chewy like a brownie, with loads of orange flavor and slathered with a cream cheese filling baked into the brownie, adorned with some drizzles of delicious Nutella.

Chocolate Hazelnut, Orange and Cream Cheese! Yum!! These remind me of Florida…the “Sunshine State”. Feeling a little better now.

Orange lovers – unite! Let’s break this spell. 🙂

Here’s the recipe!

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Orange Cream Cheese Brownies with Nutella

Soft and chewy Orange Cream Cheese Brownies with drizzled Nutella on top, made with an orange cake mix! So full of orange flavor, it brings out the sunshine!

Author: Kim Lange

Ingredients

Orange Brownies

1 box Orange Cake Mix
2 large eggs
1/2 cup butter melted

Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg

Instructions

Mix together cake mix, melted butter, and eggs.
Line baking pan (3'x9' baking pan or a 9x9, if you want thicker brownies.) with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray. Spread and pat down brownie mixture into baking pan.
Mix the cream cheese until smooth, add in sugar, vanilla and egg and mix until well incorporated.
Dollop spoonfuls and spread on top of cake brownie mixture. (If you prefer, you can swirl it with a knife for a marbled effect).
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool in pan.
Take brownies out of pan and keep on tin foil and cut as desired.
Melt Nutella and drizzle on top of brownies and cut into squares when Nutella has firmed, unless you don't want to wait. 😉

Notes

For a more swirled effect, if you prefer, you can place 1/2 the batter in the pan and then dollop spoonfuls of 1/2 the cream cheese on top, then repeat with the other 1/2 of the batter and dollop spoonfuls of the other 1/2 of the cream cheese on top of the second layer. Take a knife and swirl into the batter cutting through the batter. If you swirl too much, you won't have the swirl effect.