I don’t know if you noticed, but I am sorta doing a ‘series’ on Valentines Day desserts. We had breakfast. We had lunch. And now, it’s snack time.
Did you know that I love brownies? My mom taught me her recipe when I was eight years old. It’s wonderful. I have always been proud of that very special brownie recipe that was handed down through the generations.
Valentineโs Brownies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup butter or margarine
- 5 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate chopped into pieces
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Position one of your oven racks in the middle of the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray or shortening.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl beat the sugar, vanilla, and egg with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary to make sure everything is well blended.
- Beat in the chocolate mixture with the mixer on low speed, scraping the bowl occasionally as necessary.
- Add the flour and beat on low speed just until blended.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes or just until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and center is set.
- Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
I started out with this design, but it seemed a bit…cupcakeish… so I changed things up.
I actually used a heart cookie cutter and cut out the center to fill it with frosting.
Turns out those little brownie bites are perfect for tiny fingers…
Then I tried to class the brownies up a bit… right here is where you laugh my idea that Welches Sparkling Cider is classy.
They ended up being kinda cute.
BUT! They are for a snack… not for the (THE) dessert of the night.
So I wrapped them up in parchment paper and put them in a special box and tied the most masculine knot I could manage… because they would be for my sweet hubby of course.
But I can imagine that if you wanted to do this for a child, a fun, colorful, age appropriate ribbon would be the only change needed.
Now. If you wanted to go super easy just get a .99 box of brownie mix, and can of frosting, and spend less then an hour total, you could make someone in your life feel pretty darn special.
I personally think that is just as wonderful and just as thoughtful as baking them from scratch. Seeing as I have such total over achievers for readers, I knew you would appreciate a really good brownie recipe.
Based on Bettys Recipe.
I had leftover frosting in my fridge, so just used that. Here is the original recipe.
Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes*
Vanilla Almond Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 6 to 8 cups confectionersฤ sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
- Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
So adorable the way you hearted up your brownies! Perfect for Valentines Day.
Our favorite brownie recipe is a snap to make. I posted it a long time ago when I first started blogging- and was getting no comments. They are called Aunt Hat’s Brownies. They are under cookies and bars if anyone’s interested. We don’t frost ours.
all I can say is WOW!
I love the โฅ cut-out filled with frosting! Yum-o!
My favorite brownie recipe is the one for Fudgy Brownies in the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. But, the Ghiradelli (sp?) from the box are pretty darn good, too!
Please don’t laugh at me but I have never mad brownies from scratch. I have always used a mix. These all look so great…I love brownies!!!
This is beautiful Amanda! Anyone would be lucky to receive such a perfect treat!
Oh wow! Those look AMAZING!! What a lovely gift idea!
As you probably know I LOVE brownies. I have an amzing fudgey brownies on my blog (http://raspberryquill.blogspot.com) They are absolutely fantastic. And I finally made royal icing!
I just made these brownies and they are DELICIOUS! Plus, they were a big hit and now I’m feeling super loved! One question–my brownies seemed a lot thicker than yours–did you use a regular square 9 in. pan? I’m going to link back to you for the recipe–hope that’s ok! Now I’ve got to go lick out a bowl of frosting! ๐
Brownies are Gabriel’s all time favorite treat…but I have never tried from scratch. I am going to have to try this one out though! Thanks for sharing!!
Blessings, Kristin
I think brownies are right up there as my favorite treat. I think I’ll be making these next, and trying some of your great decorating suggestions.
Have you ever made the Outrageous Brownies by Ina Garten? They have been my “go to” recipe for brownies for the past couple of years. Sinful…absolutely sinful.
I’m going to recover from these past couple of days of baking, and then try your brownies. I can’t wait.