Valentine's Day Strawberry Brownie Hearts {Low Fat!}

I made the most delicious low fat chunky fudgey chocolate brownies the other day.

I also bought some new heart shaped cookie cutters (and a bunch of other fun stuff) with my Amazon gift card score from Christmas! I was thinking I would make some cute heart cookies, but what I was craving was chocolate, and when I think of chocolate I usually think of brownies, so I put two and two together... and there ya have it folks, an adorable Valentine's Day dessert was born!

Here's how you can do it too:

First, bake yourself a batch of your favorite brownies. *I added 1/4 cup of chopped fresh strawberries to my brownie batter before I baked them, so there was a little bit more strawberry in every brownie :)

If you are up for trying a new recipe (shared below), I made these brownies with Greek Yogurt so they are about half the fat of a normal batch of brownies, and every bit as good and gooey! Seriously, feast your eyes (but try not to drool on your keyboard like I just did):

Low Fat Strawberry Chocolate Brownies:
CLICK HERE TO PRINT (no photos)

INGREDIENTS:


1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt *5 ounces Baker's semisweet baking chocolate squares (5 squares), chopped (OR 1 cup other semisweet chocolate chips) 1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/3 cups plain Greek yogurt, fat free
1/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries
INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8x2-inch baking pan with parchment paper and leave some overhanging two sides to lift brownies out after baking.

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

• Melt 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate 20-30 second increments in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave, stirring in between until smooth and melted. Whisk in the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and yogurt.
• Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix in 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks and chopped strawberries.
• Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chunks over the top. Bake 28 - 32 minutes or until a toothpick in center comes out mostly clean.
You will want to let your brownies cool in the pan first, and once they are cool, use the parchment paper to transfer them to a cutting board where you can work your magic!

NOTE: *I love using Baker's chocolate squares instead of chips because chopping them is what gives the top that gorgeous chunky look!

Cutting the heart shapes
Now, this part works a lot better on brownies that are totally cool, so be patient! Grab a set of heart shaped cookie cutters and use them to cut hearts out of the brownies. The size I used is about 2.5" across. Use a knife to cut away any extra that comes off on the side of the cookie cutter before pushing the brownie out.

I used the 1" size heart from this set and pushed it in the center about half quarter of an inch deep. Then I pulled out the little chocolate heart 'plug' so I could replace it with a strawberry heart the same size.

To cut heart shapes out of a strawberry, slice off four 'sides' instead of making lengthwise slices. You'll get 4 hearts out of each strawberry this way, instead of 2! Then use the same small cookie cutter you used to cut the center of the brownie out, and you'll have a perfect fit :)

Just pop the little strawberry heart inside the heart shape you cut from the brownie, and you have some adorable, delicious and low fat Valentine's Day brownie treats :)

Please take a moment and check out these other fantastic Valentine's recipes from these fabulous bloggers! You can also follow along with hashtag #foodelicious on Pinterest and Twitter!

Mooshu Jenne - Blood Orange Panna Cotta Call Me PMC - Red Velvet Cookie Dough Truffles The Baking Fairy - Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes for Two Homegrown & Healthy - Valentine's Day Chocolate Hand Pies Pary Moppins - Valentine's Kisses Savvy In The Kitchen - Nutella Cheesecake Bars A Conquered Mess - White Chocolate Raspberry Bark Little Family Adventure - Strawberry Soup Life a Little Brighter - Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart Bespangled Jewelry - Valentine's Day Strawberry Brownies Temping Thyme - Special K Bars