I've had on my To-Try-List, a brownie mix I pinned a few months back, and with Valentine's Day approaching I thought it would be the perfect time to give it a whirl. My three-year-old helped me combine the dry ingredients, and then I pretty much did the rest, but if your kids are older, they would probably love to be involved in all of the steps. Step 1)
Mix and bake brownies from here or of course just use boxed mixes. I doubled the recipe and lined 2-9x9s with foil and pan spray.
Step 2)
Half-way through baking, around 10 minutes, sprinkle your pink and red hearts over partially cooked batter. (I was afraid that if I put them on in the beginning, they would sink to the bottom and disappear into the batter, but if I sprinkled them on at the end, they wouldn't stick and just fall off. Half-way through was perfect.)
Step 3)
Cool completely and stick in the freezer until firm.
Step 4)
Using a greased cookie cutter, make heart cut-outs. You may need to wash the cutter to keep the lines crisp and clean.
Bag and tie with ribbon and crinkles.
If you are making these ahead of time, store in freezer.
Brownies are extra chewy partially frozen!
To keep them from cracking or breaking,
I froze them on a cookie sheet until they were solid
and then transferred to Ziploc bags.
You should have no problem getting rid of the scraps,
brownies taste good even if they are in weird shapes.
