Celebrate!

I wish you all (at least my American readers) a happy 4th of July!  You still have time to whip up these incredibly simple bite-size, melt-in-your-mouth brownie buttons and dress them up for that party you’re surely going to tonight.  Use your microwave to melt the chocolate (bittersweet for the brownie and white for the glaze) and you’ll have these in the oven in minutes.

Brownie Buttons
Adapted from Baking, From my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Makes 16 Cookies (I suggest you double the recipe if you are bringing these to a party!)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg

For the Glaze (optional)
2 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and center a rack in the middle of the oven. Lightly butter a miniature muffin pan and place on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour and salt.

Melt the butter, chocolate and brown sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over very low heat, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula and keeping an eye on the pan so nothing overheats or burns. When the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat and cool for a minute or two.  (I did this step in the microwave, stirring at 20-second intervals until the mixture was smooth.  How many intervals you will need depends upon the power of your microwave.)

Stir in the vanilla and egg into the chocolate mixture. When the mixture is well blended, add the flour and stir only until it is incorporated. You should have a smooth, glossy batter.

Spoon the batter into 16 of the muffin cups, using about a teaspoon of batter to fill each cup three-quarters full. Put 1 teaspoon of water in each empty cup.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until the tops of the buttons spring back when touched. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 3 minutes before carefully releasing the buttons. Cool to room temperature on the racks.

To Make the Optional Glaze:
Melt the white chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir constantly and don’t leave the chocolate for even a minute- white chocolate scorches easily. As soon as the chocolate is smooth, remove from the heat.  (Again, I used the microwave, but stirred after every 15-second interval.)

One by one, dip the tops of the buttons into the chocolate, twirling the buttons so that you get a little swirl at the center of each one and the excess chocolate drips back into the bowl. Refrigerate the buttons for 15 minutes to set the glaze.

Decorate as desired and place in mini-muffin cups.  (Or just glaze them and pray you don’t get trampled as the crowd rushes to grab them up.)

Tagged as: 4th of July, brownie bites recipe, chocolate, Dorie Greenspan, party finger-food dessert