Happy Valentine's Day

I've had a breather at work - meaning, I worked 65 hours instead of 80 - these past couple of weeks, so I had time to make a few Valentine's Day cards. I didn't get to make as many as I wanted (e.g., for my parents, friends, etc.), but there's always the hope of next year!

I really like how these turned out, and now that the recipients of the cards should have gotten them by now, I can share them with you:

I made this one for my brother to give to his fiancee.

The below one I mailed to old family friends, the Burkarts. The inside of the card says "If You Only Know Where to Look".

And this cutie was for Adam:

I also made Adam chewy peanut butter brownies with Hershey's chocolate topping. The recipe (tweaked a little to make them less cake-like and more brownie-like from source) is below:


Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 large bars of Hershey's milk chocolate

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C ). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together peanut butter and margarine. Using a long-tinned fork, blend in the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir with a fork into the peanut butter mixture until well blended.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in preheated oven.
4. Break Hershey's chocolate bars into medium-sized pieces and put into ziplock bag. Crush with meat tenderizer into small chunks. Take brownie pan out of the oven and sprinkle the top evenly with the chocolate. Put in oven to bake for another 15 minutes.

Wait until it is completely cool, and then cut into squares.

Adam rarely gets to have anything that is both chocolatey and peanut-buttery since, for some odd reason, I don't like the taste of a combination of peanut butter and chocolate. I love peanut butter on its own and I love chocolate on its own, but I would rather skip dessert entirely than get anywhere near Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl. Adam can't get enough of it, though.

Luckily, Adam has a nice fiancee who made him something she can't stand herself. And Adam's nice fiancee was rewarded because the brownies were so good, she actually ate (and thoroughly enjoyed) a couple of squares. (Ok, OKAY, so I ate half the pan, geeeeez!)