Raspberry Truffle Brownies

My sister-in-law Danielle loves all things chocolate and raspberry so when I was doing a little blog reading and came across this recipe, I knew I HAD to share it with her :)  Danielle is currently 30 weeks pregnant with the first babies in the family (that's right, babies, as in twins!) and is currently enjoying life from her sofa (due to doctor's orders, aka, bed rest).  Since she's not able to be up and about in the kitchen, I decided to make them for her and, to be honest, I wanted one of these brownies.  I had a few recipe modifications (mainly because I was reading the recipe on my phone while shopping for ingredients and read a few things wrong on the tiny screen...oops!)  These brownies are super chocolaty and really rich and delicious...a must try.

 Don't these look amazing!?!?!

 Close up of the raspberries that were pressed into the brownie batter

If you want step by step photos, check out the original recipe here!

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Ghiradelli Dark and Raspberry Filled Bars (3.5oz each)
1 cup fresh raspberries
Raspberry Ice Cream-I used a black raspberry chocolate chip, it's what my store had available. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 9x13" pan.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat and stir until the mixture is smooth and shiny, a minute or so. Transfer the sugar mixture to a mixing bowl. Stir in the cocoa, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract.

Add in the eggs and stir until smooth. Add the flour and stir until flour disappears.

Spoon the 1/2 batter into prepared pan.  Break chocolate bars into squares and place evenly on batter.  Then cover with remaining brownie batter (the batter was thick so I used a spoon to dollop onto the chocolate squares and spread to cover).  Place raspberries on top of the brownie batter, gently pressing into batter.

Bake the brownies for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool.

Serve with ice cream and enjoy :)  All in all, this brownie recipe is amazing and I can think of many flavor combos that could be created using the Ghiradelli bars (chocolate mint combo with mint ice cream, yes please!)  If you try any flavor combination's, let me know how they turn out!