Life is Like a Batch of Brownies--At Least on Valentine's Day

Love is in the air, my biscuits, and it smells like dessert.

Valentine's Day is a weird holiday. In my family, it meant an order of Chinese food and an in-depth discussion of The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In other families where parents weren't obsessed with Al Capone, it probably included cupcakes and red hearts--and not the bleeding kind.

Sure, it's a holiday invented by a bunch of greeting card executives, but it's still something everyone begrudgingly celebrates. Why? Perhaps because there is some foundation of importance even underneath all that cheese. It's nice to feel nice, and even if that means a box of chocolates or something else really cliche, then so be it.

Segue: Speaking of chocolate, there isn't anything more comforting than eating something sweet and homemade on February 14; I prefer brownies. Have you ever tried making them totally from scratch? I never had until I tried this recipe from The Black Apple, a blog devoted to cute things. It made every other brownie from a mix I'd ever made or eaten taste like a mud pie; this one is so rich and moist, you'll never want to go back. It really is the perfect dessert.

Ingredients: 

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla
 

1. Grease a 9 x 9 baking pan and preheat the oven to 390.

2. Soften the butter in the microwave (if it's from the microwave, 15 seconds ought to do it) and combine it with the sugars. When this is creamed together, add all of the other ingredients and mix well.

3. Pour this all into your dish, and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Then allow to cool for a bit or else it will fall apart when you cut into it.

Super easy, so you don't have to worry about slaving over a kitchen to make something really memorable. The last time I made these, my pals ate them straight from the pan--there was no time to cut them out and serve them on a platter.

Then again, having champagne is also a tradition on Valentine's Day, isn't it?