Valentine's Weekend

Valentine's Weekend was so amazing and full of great memories.  As I said in my last post, the festivities started Wednesday night with a little dessert party in our apartment.  As promised, the chocolate chip blondie cookie recipe is posted below.  The Valentine's festivities continued on Thursday when my boyfriend, Ron, came to Austin so that we could our 5th Valentine's Day together.  He surprised me with two dozen red roses, a teddy bear, a balloon, a picture frame and a lot of chocolate!  We started with a little happy hour at home, and then made our way to a restaurant called Chez Zee.  This restaurant was the definition of romantic and cheesy and right up my ally.  The walls were covered in twinkle lights and heart lights, a band performed love songs in the middle of the restaurant, every table had a vase of fresh roses, and there was even a candy apple red grand piano at the entrance.  We at spinach and artichoke dip, shrimp bisque, rainbow trout and finished it off with a slice of mocha fudge cake.

The next event of the weekend was our sorority formal on Saturday night.  We enjoyed sushi and drinks at Maiko Sushi with 19 other couples, and then went to The North Door for the event.  The venue and vendors were all perfect.  There was good music, good drinks and even a candy bar where we could make our own candy goodie bag to take with us.  We all danced the night away and had a great time!

Chocolate Chip Blondie Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 bag Valentine's Day M&Ms

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.  Add this mix to the brown sugar mix. Combine the brown sugar, vanilla, eggs and butter in a large bowl.  Stir until blended.
2. Add chocolate chips! Stir.
3. Spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 baking pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes (I did 20 minutes and they were still very soft).
5. Add M&Ms to the top of the blondie cookies about 5 minutes before you pull them out of the oven.
6. For best results, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes to harden.