Rolo Brownie Bites

Rolos, according to Mike, are like crack.  And I have to agree; there’s something about that smooth chocolate/caramel combination that is highly addictive. Because I’m a big fan of the Reese’s peanut butter cup cookie, which involves peanut butter cookie dough baked in a mini muffin tin and a miniature peanut butter cup pressed into its center, I was excited to try this recipe.

While they turned out to be tasty, several of these bites fell apart when I removed them from the pan, as their tops separated from their bottoms.  I suspect that uneven distribution of dough among the cups is responsible, so next time I’ll make sure to fill each cup only halfway with batter for more even baking.

The broken bites will go very well with some vanilla ice cream for dessert tonight, though, proving that most baking mistakes are easily remedied.

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 ounce semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 24 Rolo candies, unwrapped and chilled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate and butter for 1 minute, then stir.  Continue microwaving in 30-second intervals, stirring each time, until chocolate is nearly melted; remove from microwave and let the residual heat finish the melting process.

Combine sugar with melted butter and chocolate and let cool until warm.

Stir in egg and vanilla until well blended.

Stir in flour mixture until well blended.

Drop batter into muffin cups, filling halfway.

Bake for 14 minutes or until the tops are almost firm when pressed in the center.

Remove from oven and immediately press one Rolo into each brownie.

Cool on a wire rack.