Celebrating “Galentine’s Day” with M&M’s® Strawberry Blondies

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Growing up I was always sorely disappointed when Valentine’s Day rolled around and I felt the crushing loneliness that only teenage hormones can bring on when you don’t have “someone special” to celebrate with.  There was always pressure (I’m sure most of it self induced) to have the rose delivered to your desk with the love note attached.  I never got one.  It was devastating.

Now that I am a mother, I want to remind my kiddos, especially my daughters, that Valentine’s Day can be the perfect day to let everyone in your life know how much they are loved.  You are always someone’s “someone special!”  In my mind, there is no reason that we can’t take our girlfriends, our mother, teacher, what have you out on a date and I am so super excited by the new “Galentine’s Day” idea that I have seen all over the place this year.  I had to implement it in my own house!

So I grabbed some sweet goodies for my girls to show them that I care.  I whipped up some delicious M&M’s® Strawberry blondies and picked out a gorgeous box of Dove® Valentine’s Day tin chocolates along with a super adorable American Greetings® card to remind them that they are loved, each and every day of the year.

If you want to remind the sweet people in your life that you love them, these M&M’s® Strawberry Blondies are perfect way to do it!  They are like a big, fluffy cookie bars that are chock full of M&M’s® goodness.

M&M's® Strawberry Blondies

 

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Author: Down Home Inspiration

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1½ cups M&M's® Strawberry, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325*
2. Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Cream together the sugars and the butter until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Stir in 1 cup of M&M's® Strawberry and pour into prepared baking dish.
6. Press remaining M&M's® Strawberry onto the top of the batter.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

3.5.3208

These blondies are thick and chewy, making a seriously decadent treat and a memorable way to tell someone that you are thinking about them.

I wanted to wrap mine up a bit so that I could package them with the beautiful Dove® Chocolate tin.  I picked up some dessert boxes from the cake decorating aisle at Walmart and filled them to the top with the blondie squares.

With a bit of folded parchment paper on the bottom, I added the blondies and then attached a cute little note card that I had written “You are so sweet” on and tied it with a ribbon to mimic the Dove® tin.

This will make my “gals” super happy and it was such a fun way to show them that they are loved and appreciated.  With an added bonus of me getting to eat the M&M’s® Strawberry leftovers!  🙂

PS: you won’t find these items in the regular candy aisle.  I found mine in the holiday section at Walmart.  Check out all kinds of genius ways people are sharing their love here and grab yourself this coupon before you head out so you can save $1.00 on any two M&M’s® Brand Chocolate Candies, 8oz or larger..