Happy Valentine’s Day!

The only good thing about today is being able to eat chocolate. I think that is a good excuse, no? Now these brownies I’m about to share with you are definitely a good excuse to enjoy on Valentine’s Day. They are really, really, really decadent. Just a little square and you will be in heaven! I made these for my friends’ but they’re also be great to share with someone special in your life or just a valentine you may have on your mind.

I’m going solo this year with the exception of drinking a bottle of wine and enjoying some decadent dark chocolates. Actually.. I may go out and have a pizookie instead! If someone can’t take care of me, I need to know how to take care of myself. Right? Right!

These brownies are super easy to make. I used a fudgy boxed brownie as the base, melted some chocolate with butter and topped with chopped snickers. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly except swapping out vegetable oil for coconut oil. The coconut oil sealed the deal. The brownie base was super fudgy and very moist. The recipe is from the cookbook The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book and many sites post previews of some of the recipes featured in the cookbook.

The only weary thing I have about the cookbook is using boxed cake and brownie mixes. Which I believe I’ve mentioned before. The ingredients listed are so scary but you know what… they make good desserts. I could easily make the brownies by scratch but why? These took minutes to put together and they were enjoyed by everyone. At least with a box mix you really can’t screw it up!

Snickery Supreme Brownies
Adapted from The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book

Ingredients:
1 (19.5oz) package fudgy brownie mix
1/2 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 regular sized snicker bars, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, Position rack in the lower third of the oven. Spray the bottom only of an 8x8in square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray for foil-line pan.

Combine the brownie mix, oil, water and eggs in a medium mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until just blended and all dry ingredients are moistened. Spread batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40-44 minutes or until toothpick inserted in 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean or almost clean (do not over bake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Combine chocolate chips and butter in a medium saucepan; stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour and spread over brownies and immediately sprinkle with chopped snickers. Gently press chopped snickers into chocolate layer. Cool. Cut into squares. Makes 9 large or 16 small brownies.

I recommend cooling the brownie base completely before adding the melted chocolate and snickers on top. This definitely takes a few hours and lots of patience to not dig in right away. ;) 16 small brownies are the perfect serving, trust me!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Fallon’s Cucina! 

Happy Valentine’s Day

 (source)

Don’t you feel the love out there? Hah! The only thing I like about this holiday is having an excuse to eat chocolate because chocolate is all over the place! Other then that it is not one of those important holidays. Definitely a cute holiday with all the pink and red hearts, cupids flying around and heart boxes of chocolate. We don’t celebrate this holiday by going out for a special dinner that night and getting a dozen of roses. Instead we stay home, drink wine (eat chocolate too) and hang out.

I like anything with chocolate, if you didn’t know me by now. Like these Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies I made the other day. I had brown bananas screaming to be made into delicious banana bread but I really wasn’t in the mood for banana bread. I wanted cookies! Healthy cookies, so if I wanted 4 cookies I wouldn’t feel bad about eating all 4 cookies ;).

These cookies come from the Clean Food By Terry Walters. Without hesitation I sent myself to the kitchen to bake these up bright and early. All natural ingredients used and could be gluten free if made with brown rice flour. I used whole wheat flour because we don’t have gluten allergies here. I may of added more chocolate chips then the recipe states too ;).

Make these for your honey or for yourself. If they don’t like coconut, leave it out and add more chocolate chips! Depending on the size of your bananas you may need to add a little more flour if the cookie batter is a bit runny. A little tip from me is to freeze the dough for 15 minutes before baking. It will stiffen up the batter and will prevent the cookies from spreading too much. Plus the dough frozen is quite delicious but you didn’t hear that from me!!!

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Clean Food

Makes 21 cookies

Ingredients

2 bananas, mashes

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened dried coconut

Pinch of sea salt

1/3 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine bananas, oil, syrup, and vanilla. In separate medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, coconut and salt. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and blend until just combined (do not over stir). Fold in chocolate chips.

Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop batter by the heaping teaspoon onto sheet. There is no need to roll, flatten or shape the mounds. Place in oven and bake 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place directly on wire rack to cool.

Other sweet treats to enjoy on Valentine’s Day:

Almond Joy Chocolate Bark

Cranberry Almond Chocolate Clusters

Dark and Milk Chocolate Brownies

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

White Chocolate Chip Cherry Cookies

Peanut Butter and Honey Muffins

Oat ‘N’ Toffee Grahams

Red Velvet Cake

Always,

Fallon

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! As much as this holiday is somewhat overrated, I still think it's just a cute day! If anything it is just a good excuse to overdose on good red wine and eat lots of chocolate. :) I received a lovely 2 dozen roses, 12 red and 12 white from my boyfriend. He is the first man to EVER buy me roses and so many of them. I feel so blessed. I never thought I'd like getting roses but I love it. It just shows that someone actually does care for you. Such a great feeling. Ahhh :) I decided to save my pie post for this week, it is taking longer then expected. I rather just enjoy this beautiful day. I'm spending it with 2 of my girlfriends. One of them her husband is currently deployed in Kuwait and asked me a while ago if we could go out on Valentine's Day since our men won't be here. It sounded good to me! We have plans to eat lunch at Wholefoods (YUM!) and see Valentine's Day movie. I hope I see chocolate in my day tomorrow. :) Have a great Sunday, Fallon