Send Me Your Valentine’s Day Recipes
What kind of food do you find romantic?
Is there a recipe you plan to make for your loved one this Valentine’s Day?
That’s what I want to know.
I’m looking for readers who have special Valentine’s recipes and food ideas for a story to run in a couple of weeks.
If you have any good ideas or recipes, please send them along with your name and contact info!
In the meantime, here’s a great brownie recipe—the ultimate in simplicity for a Valentine’s Day chocolate celebration.
On-the-Fence Brownies
Recipe adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion (Countryman Press, 2004), by the staff of the King Arthur Flour Co. The name comes from the texture, which straddles between fudgey and cakey and provides a fudgey brownie’s moistness with the greater rise of a cake brownie.
Be sure to check out the variations below to add different flavors.
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups (15.75 ounces) sugar
1 1/4 cups (3.75 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (6.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips (optional)
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil with enough to hang over edges of pan. Lightly coat with cooking oil spray.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl (or a medium saucepan set over low heat), melt butter, then add sugar and stir to combine. Microwave or reheat slightly until hot (110 to 120 degrees), but not bubbling. Stir until it becomes shiny. (Heating mixture a second time dissolves more sugar to help produce a shiny top crust to the brownies.)
3. Stir in cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, stirring until smooth. Add flour and, if using, nuts and chips, again stirring until smooth.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 28 to 30 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Brownies should feel set at edges and in the center. Cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour. Lift out of pan using overhanging pieces parchment or foil. Cut into 24 2-inch brownies.
Makes 24 brownies.
Nutritional information for one serving (one 2-inch square, without nuts or chips): 194 calories, 9 g fat (saturated fat unavailable), 3 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates (7 g complex carbohydrates, 18 g sugar), 57 mg cholesterol, 123 mg sodium, 1 g dietary fiber.
