Valentine's Day Raspberry Brownies Recipe

Flowers and chocolates are always welcome on Valentine's Day, but nothing shows you care quite as well as a homemade treat. These raspberry brownies, topped with a rosy drizzle of ruby chocolate, are perfect to package as a gift or to serve warm with ice cream after a romantic dinner for two. As special as they are, they're much easier to make than you might think. 

In recipe developer Jessica Morone's opinion, "Chocolate and raspberries together are a perfect combination," but one she feels is often underrated, or at least underutilized. While many Valentine's Day desserts pair chocolate with strawberries, her pretty brownies are instead flavored with raspberry jam. The jam is stirred right into the melted butter and sugar, a special technique that is meant to ensure that "Every bite will have a delicious chocolate raspberry flavor." You can use a good store-bought seedless jam, but if you want to add an unusual and romantic element, make your own jam from raspberries and rosé wine.

While these brownies may be elegant enough for a special celebration, Morone notes that "They are so easy to make. There is almost nothing here you can screw up, other than baking them too long." To ensure that you don't make that mistake, she advises: "You want to bake them just until the top puffs up and is set." 

The brownies are made from butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, cocoa powder, and salt, with raspberry jam and chocolate chips mixed into the batter. To make these brownies special — and perfect for Valentine's day — Morone likes to drizzle on some melted ruby chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the hot butter, sugar, and raspberry jam until smooth.

Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl and whisk until combined.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until the center of the brownies is just set. Remove from the oven and let the brownies cool completely.

Put the ruby chocolate in a small bowl and microwave in 15-second increments until completely melted.

Use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the cooled brownies.

Let the chocolate set for a few minutes, then cut the brownies into squares and serve.

Ruby chocolate is a fairly recent creation. In 2017 it was unveiled to the world as a fourth type of chocolate by Belgian-Swiss confectioner Barry Callebaut. The process for making ruby chocolate is shrouded in mystery, as Barry Callebaut keeps its methods well-hidden, but the result is a naturally rosy pink chocolate with a very unusual flavor. While it doesn't taste much like milk or dark chocolate, it's much more flavorful than white chocolate. As Morone describes it, "Ruby chocolate is great because it has a fruity, tart flavor to it," she explains, and that raspberry-like tanginess "goes great with the flavor of these brownies." 

Ruby chocolate is now available from a variety of confectionery companies, but it does tend to be a little more expensive than other types of chocolate and might be a bit harder to source than the other ingredients in this recipe. Morone offers an alternative. "If you can't find ruby chocolate and still want a pretty drizzle," she says, "you could melt white chocolate and add a drop or two of red food coloring to make it pink." 

These raspberry brownies are so delicious that it's unlikely they'll make it to February 15. As Morone says, "You won't have a lot of leftovers." But in the unlikely event that you do, she explains they can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature or for a week in the refrigerator. Let them cool completely before storing them — in fact, Morone cautions that you shouldn't even try cutting the brownies until they are completely cool, or they won't set completely and come out in neat squares.

If you'd like to make your raspberry brownies more than a week in advance, however, your best bet is to freeze them — Morone recommends wrapping each one in plastic, once cool, and then storing them in a freezer bag. The frozen brownies, she says, can be thawed on a countertop until they reach room temperature. If you're in a hurry, though, or if you prefer to eat your brownies warm, you can also microwave them in 15-second increments.