Strawberry, Marshmallow and Brownie Bite Skewers, a Valentine Weekend Recipe

Chocolate is an herb and the best holiday for this herb is Valentine's day. With the "day" being on Monday many folks are celebrating over the weekend. We have this recipe for fun marshmallow, strawberry and brownie skewers. Since the theme this month is Breakfast you can serve these strawberry and brownie skewers as a breakfast treat, but you can also save them for a dessert that is perfect for Valentine’s Weekend!

What you Need

• Strawberries, cleaned and green tops removed
• Marshmallows, toasted
• 1/3 cup White Chocolate, melted
• 1/3 cup Dark Chocolate, melted
• 1-inch brownie bites

For the Brownie Bites
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick baking spray.

In a pot over medium heat, combine the butter, sugar, cocoa powder and salt and mix for until the butter has melted and the sugar and cocoa is smooth. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and eggs, whisk to combine. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips and set aside.

Transfer the batter to the prepared baking sheet and transfer to the oven and bake for 25-27 minutes until done.

Remove the baking tin from the oven, and let it cool to room temperature before removing the bites and let them cool completely. I prefer to stick the baking pan in the freezer once it’s slightly cooled so it’s easier to cut the brownies into squares.

Once cooled. cut the brownies into small bite 1-inch squares.

Making the Skewers

I toasted the marshmallows on a skewer over the flame of our gas stove.  You can also do it over an unscented candle.

On medium sized skewers, alternate a toasted marshmallow, a strawberry, a brownie bite, another strawberry and finish with an additional toasted marshmallow.

Drizzle with white and dark chocolate and serve as needed. 

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, Recipe2019, or Recipe2020.

 
You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD for each month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2021 so you can find them all.

The themes are:
Jan 2021 – Baked Items
Feb 2021 – Breakfast Dishes
March 2021 – Italian Dishes
April 2021 - Chicken Recipes
May 2021 - Appetizers
June 2021 – Mediterranean Dishes
July 2021 – Pork Recipes
August 2021 - Seafood
September 2021 - Pizzas
October 2021 – Mexican Dishes
November 2021 - Cookies
December 2021 – Gift Recipes

How Tuesday - Making Lavender Infused Brownies

My recent edible flowers program talked about using lavender in both savory and sweet edible dishes.  One of the most popular flavored items was Lavender Infused Brownies.  The flavor of the lavender is infused into these in two different ways.  You can make them in a pan, but I recommend making them in mini muffin cups so you can share them or freeze them for later.

How to Make Lavender Infused Brownies

Step 1 - you can use an herbal sugar one of two ways.  Blend 1/3 cup lavender and 3 cups sugar in a blender and pulse until the lavender is pulverized and has imparted its scent to the sugar (about 2 to 3 minutes.)  You can also make the sugar in advance by layering granulates sugar with 1/4 cup lavender buds in alternating layers with about 2 cups of sugar and allow to infuse the scent and flavor gradually over a week to two weeks.  Sift out the lavender and used the infused sugar to create this recipe.

Step 2 - gather your ingredients.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

3 tsp lavender flowers (dried)

1 cup cocoa powder

2 cups herbal or regular sugar (lavender sugar is amazing in this!)

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Optional 1 cup chopped nuts 

Step 3 -- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Either line bottom and sides of 9x12 baking pan with parchment or line mini muffin tins with papers. 

Step 4 -- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Step 5 -- Melt the butter in a small pot over very low heat. When melted, add the lavender flowers. Stir gently to cover all flowers. On very low heat, allow the flowers to impart their flavor into the butter.

 

After about 8 minutes, remove the pot from the heat. Strain the butter into a medium sized bowl, removing the lavender. 

Step 6 -- Stir in the cocoa. 

Step 7 -- Blend in the sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Step 8 -- Add the dry ingredients (and nuts if you decide to use.) 

Step 9 -- Blend all together and spoon into the mini muffin tins (or the 9 x 12 pan)  

To make it easier to fill mini muffin tins, I recommend putting the batter inside a 1 quart zip lock bag and snipping off the corner and piping the batter into the cups.  Fill about 2/3 full as brownies do not puff like cupcakes.

Fill about 2/3 full as brownies do not puff like cupcakes.

Step 10 -- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes for the small bites (or 30-35 for larger pan.) 

Makes about 45 mini muffins. Keep in a lidded container for about 7 to 10 days.  They freeze well of you drop them into a zip seal bag.  Each mini is abut two bites and the perfect little treat.  The explosion of lavender scent and flavor as you bite into them is a wonder!