I’ve been craving brownies for a couple weeks now, but don’t dare make them because I have zero willpower when it comes to the leftovers.  It goes something like this: every time I open the fridge, I cut a 1″ square and eat it (I love my brownies cool and gooey). 

I open the fridge a lot.

Realizing that Valentine’s Day was coming, I decided I could use that holiday as an excuse to make a batch.  And if I made a double batch and gave 3/4 of it away, well then I’d really only have a half-batch left for our family.   That’s not so bad!

So I got my box of Ghirardelli Chocolate Fudge Brownie mix out (from Costco- makes six batches).  I used my Demarle flower pan to bake 2 batches (one at a time):

Then I cut the brownie into quarters- makes 4 hearts that way! 

We had 8 total and the plan was to give away 6.  Unfortunately for my in-laws, my nephews were picked up too early and didn’t get to make one for their family, so that left us with 3 brownies for our house!

I gave the kids a heart brownie topped with pink-tinted cream cheese frosting:

I also gave them sprinkles and when they were done decorating their brownie I drizzed chocolate ganache over the top of each one.

Here’s the one Trevor made:

Here’s the one Brooke made:

And here’s the one I made:

I also drizzed chocolate on some strawberries:

And here’s the finished product:

Everyone got 1/2 a big brownie and a couple chocolate drizzled strawberries.  YUM!  The kids only ate 1/2 of their brownie, they saved the other half for breakfast the next morning.