Next week is one of the most popular holidays of the year… Valentine’s Day! And I wanted to create something super special to celebrate the day! Red Velvet Valentine Brownie Bites is what I made for you!
Two years ago for Valentine’s Day, I made chocolate cupcakes filled with cream and topped with a chocolate ganache and buttercream. Last year I made (I was about to have a baby and was nesting!) Dark Chocolate Raspberry Hug Cookies, Sweetheart Sugar Cookie Bars, Baked Sour Cream Donuts, and Frosted Sugar Cookies! This year needed to be different.
Red Velvet. Yes… but I’ve done Red Velvet cupcakes and brownies before, so I knew I had to mix things up a bit with this recipe. For the brownie, I adapted a recipe from How Sweet It Is and baked them in a larger pan so they’d be a bit thinner. I cut them into heart shapes, and piped white chocolate cream cheese frosting between two hearts to create a sandwich.
These are DEFINITELY a winner! The chocolate is subtle in the brownie but the white chocolate is explosive in the frosting… put the two together and you’ve got YUM!
Enjoy!
Red Velvet Valentine Brownie Bites
Ingredients
Red Velvet Brownies
- 3 Tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Wilton Christmas Red food coloring Gel
- 2 tsp vanilla, divided
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2/3 cup white chocoalte chips, melted
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
Red Velvet Brownies
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line a 9x13 cake pan with parchment paper that hangs over the edges and grease with butter or shortening. Flour lightly.
- In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder, red food coloring, and 1 tsp vanilla to create a paste.
- Using your stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
- One at a time, add the eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Add the cocoa paste and mix until combined thoroughly. At this point, you can add more coloring if the batter is not red enough for your taste.
- Add flour and salt and mixuntil just combined.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Ensure batter is level and flat, especially on the sides. Since there is no leavening in this recipe, the brownies won't rise very much.
- Bake 23-25 minutes.
- Let brownies cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the parchment paper to lift the brownies from the pan.
- Using a small heart shaped cookie cutter, cut brownies into heart shapes.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using your stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth - about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the melted white chocolate and mix until incorporated.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, milk and salt and mix on medium-low until smooth.
- Beat 2-3 minutes on high until light and fluffy.
Assembly
- Using a small star tip (like Wilton 1M), pipe frosting onto the top of one heart. Make sure to pipe to the edges of the heart.
- Place another heart, face up, on top of the frosting and gently press down.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar to garnish.
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 0Total Fat 0g