Brownie Buttons
Sunday afternoon, I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle. So, when I took Henry the Wonderdog out the following night, I was hobbling along in the dark, looking down toward The Ankle to avoid any dips and sinkholes, and Henry lunged forward and pulled me face-first into a tangle of low-slung dogwood branches.
When I’m in a crippled, disfigured, lowly state, only one thing will help: bourbon. But when we’re out of bourbon, chocolate will do.
Take these small-but-powerful Brownie Buttons. You might get two bites from each one, but those bites will have a bittersweet chocolate punch you can’t get from a mini chocolate cupcake. Perfect for dunking into a nice, cold glass of milk while you prop up your ankle and watch Jeff take the dog out.
Brownie Buttons
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”
Makes 16
- Grated zest of 1/2 orange (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- 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
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter two miniature muffin pans, each with a dozen cups, and place them on a baking sheet.
2. If you’re using the orange zest, combine the zest and sugar in a small bowl, rubbing them between your fingertips to blend; set aside. Whisk together the flour and salt.
3. 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.
4. Stir in the vanilla, egg and the zest, if you’re using it, 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. To Make the Optional Glaze: Melt the 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.
8. 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.
Storing: Covered, these will keep at room temperature overnight. If you wrap them air-tight you can freeze them for up to 2 months, glazed or not.
Look fabulous!! My boyfriend and me love extra power chocolate: I've tried lots oh choco recipes, cannot wait to bake this one!!
heehee.. cute, and you gotta love Henry, at least he tried to give you some 'street cred'.. atlas.. bourbon or brownies will always mend whatever ails you.
Thanks for the link, I adore bittersweet chocolate and use it a lot in my autumn baking and cooking.
Chin up.. and make some lemon aid out of this wee mess and in no time your ankle will be right as new.
Oh! I'm sorry you're in such a bad state. Thank goodness you can turn to chocolate. : ) Your brownies turned out great. So adorable and sweetly decorated.
Feel better!
your's look beautiful. i see a lot of bakers that used sprinkles. i didn't, and now i feel like the dunce lol.
beautiful tho!!
Ouch! Sounds like a crappy week. I think you should definitely avoid any risky activities such as sky diving to walking through Compton after sunset.
The brownies have one serious problem: how could you resist eating like a dozen of them? So yummy looking!
Take care and heal quickly!
Take care of that ankle!
Well, dang you've had a rough few days! Hope you're up and about soon!
~ingrid
Great photo, as always. Your buttons look terrific! I really enjoyed these. I can imagine they'd be just the thing to help with the rough day you were having. Hope you're feeling better soon!
OH!!! Hope you are up and around better soon, and that the chocolate helped, 'cause the buttons look perfect.
Great looking brownies.
So cute – love the sprinkles!
Beautiful presentation!
I hope you heal soon, and that you've got a great book to read while you're resting up.
The brownies look delicious.
I hope your brownie buttons help with the healing! They sure look pretty and dainty! I love the sprinkles on top, they match perfectly with the plate they're served on!
(I've had similar incidents with Marshall, the Lizard Chaser, where he suddenly leaps into a bush and I fall in after him.)
ouch–make jeff go and get you some bourbon! i hope you have de-puffed, at least. you managed to make darling little brownies even with that bad ankle!
Poor thing! Hope you feel better – a couple of those brownies look like they would do the trick!
They are just way to adorable.
And your plate…I want that plate.
I love how I keep seeing these on the different blogs I read and everyone seems to have a different take on them. Frosting and non-pareils look great!
Hope you get better soon… that does not sound like fun.
Hope you ankle feels better soon! These brownies look so cute! I love the sprinkles!
What a perfect remedy. I hope the ankle heals quickly, but I suppose you can always just whip up another batch of brownie buttons and enjoy the sofa.
Ooh…I hope your ankle gets better soon.
I like the sprinkles. :)
So sorry about your ankle. I've never sprained anything, but I imagine it's painful, plus a huge pain in the ___.
I love your sprinkles and mini muffin cups. I really need to get some of those liners. It's a pain to butter all the little cups.
Sorry about your ankle! Those brownies are adorable.
They look so cute
Yikes! Sorry about your accidents. Chocolate always makes things just a little bit better. These are darling :)
Ouch! Feel better. I don't love chocolate, but these little bites look great.
These are so adorable!! Must have taken the pain straight away!