Valentine Brownies

Let’s try this again with the pictures.

Heart shaped brownies have been a Valentine’s staple in our house since the boys were little. We rarely did a Valentine date night. Instead, we ate in the dining room with the boys on the fancy china with them drinking their milk out of the wine glass.

Brownies cut into a heart were our dessert a lot. They are so easy to make; the kids love them and you can fancy them up in lots of different ways. You can use a brownie mix or make them from scratch, your choice.

You will find a box of brownie mix in our RV 99% of the time. It’s a quick and easy dessert that most everyone likes. I make homemade brownies often but a box of Ghirardelli brownies wins in the RV. You have to be ready in case a camping neighbor invites you over for their fire.

So, start with your favorite from scratch recipe or grab that brownie box and make your brownies! I like to layer parchment paper in the pan so it’s easy to lift out. That also means I fight less getting the hearts neatly.

Let the brownies cool completely before pressing the heart shaped cookie cutter into them. I get five hearts from an 8×8 pan. I cut away the extra so I can get a good slide underneath the heart with a small spatula. All the leftover pieces get flash frozen for 1 hour then stored in a ZipLoc back for later. Sometimes for brownie fudge sundaes and sometimes for sneak snacking. Shh, our secret.

They are delicious naked, that’s how we served them when our boys were growing up. You can squirt some whipped cream and finish it off with a fresh raspberry.

Or, you can make an easy ganache and really make them fancy!

Ganache intimidated me for far too long. Now it’s my go-to decadence. This recipe comes from Natasha’s Kitchen and has never failed.

The recipe uses semi-sweet chocolate and I’ve always used chips. You can cut up a chocolate bar. You can use darker chocolate as well. I’ve made it once with these dark chips but I like darker chocolate more than Mark does. You can also use vegan chocolate or white chocolate with slight modification.

Heavy cream is the key, milk fat is important so low fat milk won’t cut it.

Ready for fancy? It comes together quickly.

Put your heart brownies on a baking rack. The round rack from the microconvection oven in your house and/or RV is perfect. I the round rack on a big piece of foil to catch the ganache to save for later.

Measure your chocolate chips or cut up an 8-ounce good chocolate bar and place in large glass bowl.

Pour 1 cup of heavy cream in a small sauce pan. Put heat on low/medium and stir occasionally until little bubbles form around the edge. You don’t want it to boil.

Pour the cream over the chocolate, give it a swirl and cover with plastic wrap. Set your timer and wait.

Slowly stir with a silicone spoon or rubber spatula, working from inside out, until mixture is smooth. Let the ganache hang out for about 15 minutes before pouring it over the brownies. You may have to more directly spoon the arch parts of the brownies.

Let them sit for a bit, I usually wait 15-30 minutes then either serve or place in the refrigerator for later. I put the round rack on top of the plate, they will be easier to slide off of the rack onto a plate than go from rack to plate to dessert plate.

Now for the ganache covered foil. I use the same rubber spatula to skim it off the foil and into a large mouth mason jar. This is never as neat as I envision.

You can store the ganache in the refrigerator for 5 days or freeze for 3 months. It’s best thawed in the refrigerator. You can reheat it in the microwave, 15-30 seconds at a time until it’s warm. You can also treat it like frosting and whip it before frosting a cake, cupcakes or cookies.

Before serving your fancy brownies, you can squirt some whipped cream on top and add a raspberry or two. You can also top with festive valentine sprinkles or add anything you’d like. I can’t wait to see your imagination flow!

Click here to print the recipe!