Fudgy & chewy brownie cookies are topped with an easy to make conversation heart frosting in these Conversation Heart Frosted Brookies...
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all mine.
I know that when most people think of Valentine's Day that they think of it as a romantic holiday filled with roses and fancy dinners out with your significant other. But Valentine's Day has always been more of a family holiday to me.
When I was growing up, my parents always made sure that my younger sister and I were included. We always received a card, a little red foil heart filled with chocolates, and other little goodies from them. And this is a tradition that I have continued on with my kiddos as well.
In fact, I have already went out and bought all their Valentine's Day goodies for next Sunday. ;)
My youngest is now finally old enough to give her mama a helping hand in the kitchen, so this Valentine's Day we decided to whip up some special cookies for our family and her preschool classmates.
At first we were thinking brownies, but then she suggested cookies. I happened to have a box of our favorite Pillsbury™ Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix in the pantry, so I thought why couldn't we have both?
With just a few simple ingredient tweaks, you can turn your favorite Pillsbury™ boxed brownie mix into fudgy & chewy cookies or what I like to call brookies (Get it? Brownies + cookies = brookies). ;)
And to make these brookies perfectly festive for the Valentine's Day holiday, we topped them with a simple frosting made from Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Frosting in Vanilla & crushed conversation hearts. I mean, what says Happy Valentine's Day better than pastel colored candy conversation hearts?
Conversation Heart Frosted Brookies
by
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12-14 minutes
Ingredients (18-20 cookies)
- Pillsbury™ Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix (13x9 Family Size)
- 1/3 cup butter flavor vegetable shortening, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup chocolate syrup
- Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Frosting in Vanilla
- 1/2 cup of candy conversation hearts, crushed + more whole ones for decorating
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the brownie mix, melted shortening, egg, & chocolate syrup until well mixed & evenly moistened. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place at least 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until set. Allow to the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the brookies are cooling, prepare the conversation heart frosting. Spoon the tub of vanilla frosting into a medium mixing bowl. Fold in the crushed conversation hearts. Once the cookies have cooled, frost each of the brookies with about 2 tbsp of the frosting. Garnish each frosted brookie with 2-3 conversation hearts, if desired.
Serve and enjoy!
**Store any leftover brookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Recipe for the Brownie Cookies courtesy of Pillsbury.
Since I was already at my local Walmart picking up goodies to fill my kiddos' Valentine's Day gift bags with, I swung by the baking aisle and picked up some of our favorite Pillsbury™ baking favorites- their Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix and their Creamy Supreme® Frosting in Vanilla.
I do have a few tips when it comes to the candy conversation heart frosting. The best way to crush these candy hearts is to place them in a gallon or quart sized resealable bag and pound away at them with a meat mallet. I tried the food processor, but the conversation hearts were too hard for it.
Also, I suggest spreading on the frosting instead of trying to pipe the frosting onto each cookie. Initially I tried using a frosting tip with a wide opening to decorate these cookies a little prettier, but small chunks of the hearts kept blocking the opening of the frosting tip. Save yourself the frustration, folks. ;)
Little miss helped me mix up the batter, roll the dough into balls, and decorated the frosted cookies with whole conversation hearts. She had a blast, & we got to create fun holiday memories together & a sweet treat that we could share with our family and her friends. :)
How will you and your family be mixing it up for Valentine's Day this year?
Looking for even more ways to Mix It Up for Valentine's Day? Be sure to follow Pillbury's Mix Up A Moment board on Pinterest!
If you loved this recipe using your favorite boxed brownie mix, you might also like my...
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of The J.M. Smucker Company. The opinions and text are all mine.