Confession: I actually like Valentine's Day.  Possibly because I have a severe medium addiction to chocolate and will happily celebrate any holiday that makes it acceptable for me to receive an entire box of it.  I only have one gift to buy, only one other person to feed, and I don't have to binge-drink 1,000 pounds of green food coloring (I'm looking at you, St. Patty's).

So, Even if you "don't believe" in Valentine's Day...

I'm pretty sure that you probably believe in brownies.

Valentine Brownie Bites with Strawberry Marshmallow Frosting

Makes: 24 mini brownie bites with frosting

[ Printable Recipe ]

For the brownies:

• 1 cup  sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 5 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the frosting:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 7-ounce container of  marshmallow fluff
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ¼ cup seedless strawberry jam
• pink or red food coloring, if desired
• decorations, if desired

Make the brownies:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F and line a mini muffin tin with 24 of the cutest  mini paper liners you can find.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just incorporated.

3.  Spoon into 24 prepared mini paper liners and bake  for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes of baking, turn the heat off and leave pan in the oven for another 5 to 6  minutes.  Remove pan from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before removing individual brownie bites to a rack to cool completely.  The tops will be dry and slightly cracked.

(To make in standard muffin tins, bake for 19-20 minutes at 350°F, then turn off the oven and let sit for another 10 minutes before removing from the oven.  Cool in the pan 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to complete cooling.)

Make the frosting:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy.  Add marshmallow fluff and continue beating until combined.  Add the powdered sugar and mix to incorporate, then and the jam and continue beating until it is evenly distributed.

At this point the frosting will be a light pink or red color depending on the jam you used, you can beat in food coloring (I did) to achieve your desired color.

2. Top brownie bites with frosting and sprinkles.  I scooped the frosting into a gallon-size ziplock and cut off one of the corners of the bag making an opening between ¼ to ½ inch in diameter.  Gently squeeze frosting into the cupcake, creating a frosting “bubble.”

Adapted from A Farmgirl's Dabbles