Bite This

There is a basic inequity in my marriage. I'm not talking about the fact that my husband has a reach that's about twice my height. Or the fact that he's way stronger than me, easily opening jars that confound me. Or that he can fix just about anything. I'm talking about the fact that we can go outdoors together and he'll come back refreshed by the encounter with nature and I'll be one giant, swollen, itchy mass of bug bites.

It doesn't matter what the insect is - spider, mosquito, midge, or whatever- if it has a choice between my husband and me, it'll turn up it's buggy nose at him and make a beeline for me. For some reason I'm irresistible. Maybe all the sugar I ingest makes me sweeter than him; I don't know. All I know is it's not fair!



However, as I've been told and frequently tell my kids, Life Is Not Fair. You just do the best you can with the way things are. I retaliate by clobbering the daylights out of any bug I see, pounding it with my shoe till it's a pulp. And I make my own bites. Brownie bites.

Far more satisfying than scratching insect bites is making little nibbles of brownie, capped with a dollop of Nutella. With bites like these, life is sweet again. And honestly, I'd rather bake than hike any day!

Nutella Brownie Bites
-adapted from Sunset magazine

1/2 cup butter
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup Nutella

1-Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Generously butter 24 mini-muffin cups.

2- In a heatproof bowl, microwave 1/2 cup butter to melt. (Use medium power and cover the bowl with wax paper to keep the butter from spattering.) Add the chocolate, stirring until melted, then add the sugar and cocoa powder. Stir to blend. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add flour and stir until smooth. Spoon batter evenly into mini-muffin cups. (The batter will make 24 brownie bites, plus have a bit of leftover batter.)

3- Using the tip of a wooden spoon, make a small depression in each portion of batter. Spoon 3/4 tsp Nutella into each hole.

4- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the brownie part comes out with just a few moist crumbs, about 15 minutes.

5- Let cool on a rack about 10 minutes. Using a small spatula or plastic fork, loosen brownies from pans and move to rack to cool completely.

Store covered at room temperature.