Easy Truffle Brownie Hearts

by Emily Roemmich
(Omaha, Nebraksa, United States)

I don’t usually make homeade brownies. It’s always been easier for me to just throw a 90 cent batch of brownies in the oven... That was until I found this recipe, it's quick and it's easy because you just mix it on the stove, and no mixer or beaters are required. You can obviously substitute this homeade brownie mix for a pre-made one if you are short on time.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups + 2 tblspoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 Cup of butter
3/4 Cup of sugar
4 Medium eggs
1 Cup of all purpose flour
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 Teaspoon of salt
1/4 Cup of milk
Sprinkles for the decoration

Method
First preheat your oven to 350 (180c).
Now you start out with a 9x9 square baking pan. I then cover the baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray to prevent it sticking.

In a large pot on the stove, I combined 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup butter (1 stick). Cook over low heat, stirring, until melted and combined. Remove from heat and beat in the sugar and eggs until blended. Add the flour, vanilla and salt then whisk until it's smooth.

Tansfer it all to the baking dish and bake for 20 to 30 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with very moist crumbs clinging. Lift your brownies by the foil from pan. The brownie should separate from the foil easily. Let them cool for about 15 minutes.

I bought a box of 100 cookie cutters for like $9.00. They are just cheap plastic ones, but they worked fine. I found a little heart about an inch and a half wide. You can use other shapes and sizes, but this recipe allows you to make 12 brownies with a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter or less.Then simply cut out the brownies. The brownie was too thick for the cookie cutters to go through, so I pushed them down as far as they could go and then took a small sharp knife and went around each one.

Then combine 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1/4 cup milk. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals until melted, stirring between intervals. This usually takes 1:30. If you have a cookie rack, that will be perfect. Place wax paper underneath the rack to catch the mess. Pour the melted chocolate over the brownies. I didn’t have a rack, so I just placed them on a plate and it worked fine.

Let the brownies set for a while. You can put them in the fridge if you want to speed up the process. Then take 2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate and melt for about 15 seconds. Spoon the chocolate into a small plastic ziploc bag and snip a tiny hole in one corner. Pipe lines over the easy truffle brownie hearts or decorate however you want!