Mini Brownie Bites

They say the flu’s been going around, and trust me, yes it has! This past week, my two younger brothers, sister, and father all had a VERY bad case of the flu! So, since our house had kind of turned into a make-shift hospital, I decided to cheer everyone up with brownies! I think brownies are  the quintessential “get better” food of all time. I mean, you can’t help but smile and feel better when you eat one! And, let me tell you, these sure did do the trick! (BTW, that’s me in the picture above with my plate of brownies!)

I made mine in a small muffin tin (the one with the little cups!). And you have to make sure that you spray the pan SUPER good and let them sit in the pan for 5-10 minutes after you take them out of the oven! I also iced them with two different types of icing, orange-cream cheese, and chocolate.

Mini Brownie Bites

• 4 squares of unsweetened Baker’s chocolate
• 3/4 c butter
• 2 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c flour

Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan, making sure to stir it constantly so that it doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla, stirring constantly and rapidly so that the eggs don’t scramble. Pour into a HEAVILY greased mini muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let the brownies sit in their tin for 5-10 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Ice with either icing.

The first batch I iced with orange-cream cheese frosting. Chocolate and orange are a great combination, and this frosting definitely takes advantage of that! I just used the Pastry Bag tip I posted, and squeezed a little dollop onto each brownie, then I just used a butter knife to spread it out and make it look pretty!

Here they are all done, and here’s the recipe!

Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting (The Neeley’s)

• 1/4 stick butter
• 4 ounces of cream cheese
• 2 c powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp. orange juice
• 1/2 tbsp. orange zest

Beat the butter and cream cheese until combined with either a hand-mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Then add the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add the orange juice and orange zest and ice the brownies.

I also made chocolate icing to go on the other batch! This is our icing that we always put on brownies so it seemed like the perfect fit!

Chocolate Icing

• 1 1/2 tbsp. butter melted
• 1 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 3/4 c powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tbsp. milk

Stir the butter and cocoa powder until it makes a paste. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Frost the brownies just using a butter knife.

---