Dark Chocolate Strawberries & Cream Brownies

Happy Heart’s Day!  That is right, today is February 14, 2012, and blog all over the internet are filling up with decadent Valentine inspired treats.  Here at torts to tarts, it will be no different.  My Heart Day inspired treat came to me when I saw these Ghirardelli chocolate squares at my local mega superstore shopping center:

I did not buy them on that trip as (1) I am general not a huge fan of chocolate, so I would probably not eat them plain and (2) they were cost prohibitive to buy for no reason except I thought they were cute.  When I am out of town, I tend to spend money on things I would not buy in town.  While at the same mega superstore shopping center about 1.5 hours from my house, visiting a friend, I bought one bag of the chocolates to bake with.

After deciding what to make with the chocolates, I decided I needed at least one more, possible two more bags.  Once an idea has struck me, the chocolate was no longer cost prohibitive… Oh, no; it was a necessity.

I used my favorite Bakers’ One Bowl Chocolate Brownie recipe.  To increase the dark chocolate quotient, I subbed out some of the flour for equal parts dark chocolate cocoa powder.

I then spread about half the batter in a 9x13 pan then placed the strawberry filled squares.  I wanted to keep the squares whole in the center, so I laid them strategically to miss the cut lines.  I next sprinkled the vanilla white chocolate bars, broken into pieces, around the squares.  I wanted each brownie to have strawberries and cream in it.

Lastly, I spread the remaining batter over the top and made sure all chocolate was nicely submerged.  Due to the additional content in the brownies, I baked them a little longer than normal.  They were finished when a toothpick came out with a few moist crumbs.

I let the brownies sit for about 10 minutes before genteelly pressing a full chocolate square on top of the warm brownies, again trying to avoid the cut lines.  I let the brownies cool completely (actually overnight) before cutting them into the predetermined sized bars (based on the chocolate squares placement).

The brownies are rich and dark.  The white chocolate pieces provide a little texture to the chewy brownie.  If you want more strawberry taste, go for the brownies with the full strawberry filled chocolate square on top.  If you want less strawberry, go for the bar with the vanilla white chocolate square on top.  Either way, I think you will get something you love.

These are definitely best when shared with others!  Happy Heart’s Day!