Best Brownies

Ok, so I took some brownies, well actually brownie bites, to work.  It was a birthday thing. I like to bake and take things to work then they don't sit around the kitchen calling my name until I have eradicated them from the area, usually along with half a quart of ice cream, some chocolate sauce and whatever else I may find in the general area.

Anyway there were two things about these brownies,
1) I modified and made individual brownie bites. Much less mess when dealing with a lot of people in a possible pot luck situation,
2) I made a chocolate stout butter cream frosting. Yes you read that right and frankly I could have sat down and eaten the whole bowl of the stuff with a large spatula if said dessert was not expected at work the next day.

I was asked a million times, no not exaggerating, about the recipe.  So here we go, there is a lot of stuff going on, so pay attention.

Dark Chocolate Stout Brownies

6oz. bittersweet chocolate
3/4c. unsalted butter
1c. chocolate stout beer, I used Boatswain from Trader Joe's
1c. brown sugar
1c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs at room temp for 30 min, why? I don't know it's what it said to do. I don't like to challenge new recipes that will be consumed by people other than my immediate family. They of course are total Guinea pigs for all my culinary exploits.

-Preheat to 350°. Grease 9x13 pan
-melt chocolate and butter in double boiler
 whisk in sugar, set aside and let cool
-mix flour, cocoa, eggs and beer.
-add in the chocolate/butter mix
-mix until just blended

Bake for 20 min.


Modifications:

Cheater Version:
Any Brownie mix, I like Ghirardelli's dark chocolate one.
Substitute the chocolate stout for any liquid in the mix, like water or milk.

Brownie Bite Version:
Instead of baking in your usual favorite brownie pan, you know you have one and if it is not available brownies cannot be made in any other pan.  Come on it's not just me! Is it? Do I have to worry?
Either grease or use papers in a mini muffin/cupcake pan.
Ours makes 24
Use about a Tbs of mix for each bite.
Bake at indicated temp from the box for 10 min then check with a toothpick. You might end up with hockey pucks if you over bake :(

FROSTING:
3c. Powder Sugar
1/3c Unsalted Butter
1/2 to 1tsp Vanilla
Super slowly add Chocolate stout and blend with a knife
until the correct frosting consistency. YUM!