I made these adorable little brownie bites to give my family for Valentine's Day. They really are pretty easy even though there are several steps involved!
Brownie Bites
(Printable Version)
1 family size brownie mix
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 T milk
2 drops red food coloring
1 cup semisweet (or dark chocolate) chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the mini cupcake holders in a mini muffin tin. Make brownie mix according to package directions and fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool in pan 5 minutes then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
In a small bowl melt chocolate chips in microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and continue heating in 30 second increments as needed until all chips are melted. Spoon into a quart size ziplock bag. Let chocolate cool in bag 10-15 minutes. Cut the tip off the bag {just the very tip!}. Pipe chocolate into heart shapes onto waxed paper. Refrigerate until hard.
In a large mixing bowl beat butter, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, 2 T milk and food coloring. The mixture will not look like frosting. Beat for 5 minutes {this is very important!}. Add remaining tablespoon of milk as needed for the right consistency. You want the frosting to be light and fluffy so it will be easy to pipe onto the brownies. Fill a large ziplock bag or decorator's bag with frosting. You can use a large star tip, round tip, or no tip at all. I used a ziplock bag with just the icing coupler in it because I didn't have a large round tip.
Now you are ready to assemble the brownie bites! Pipe frosting onto cooled brownies starting at the edge of the brownie and ending at the center. Carefully remove chocolate hearts from waxed paper using a metal pancake turner. Gently stick a chocolate heart into the frosting on each brownie. You have to work fast because the chocolate will start to melt in your hands.
Yield: about 48
Enjoy!
