Valentine's Day Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies...because I love him!

So we all know if it had been my choice I would have been baking up some Valentine's Day cupcakes but since Valentine's is all about the one you love and he loves brownies then that's what he got.

I have had this King Arthur recipe bookmarked for months in my 'brownies' folder of bookmarked recipes. It is described as being super fudgy and super moist which is always a good combo in my book so I thought it was about time it made it's debut.  I made a few slight alterations and the end result was delicious and more than enough to impress the one I love!

I had bought a bag of 'Valentines M&M's' just because there was this huge aisle of 'Valentine's candy' at the supermarket and we never get stuff like that in England! so I bought a bag of the red, white and pinks just because I could and decided they would be an appropriate topping for the brownies! 

I also threw some white chocolate chunks into the brownies to beef up the chocolate-ness of it all! So here is my adapted recipe:

          Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies for Valentines:

Makes 12

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

  2 1/4 cups sugar

   4 large eggs

1 1/4 cups cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

   1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

 1 cup milk chocolate chips

  1 cup white chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla till smooth.

Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.

Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan. Arrange your M&M's in heart shaped layers on top of the brownie batter.

Bake the brownies for about 40 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.