One my co-workers will be celebrating her graduation from graduate school on Monday, so we threw a little party for her at work yesterday.  I volunteered to make the dessert, and whipped up Milk Chocolate Buttons, a recipe from Christabel Martin.

This is an unassuming recipe.  Seemingly basic, with melted milk chocolate in the batter and a milk chocolate ganache to finish it off, these blew people away.  Not too sweet (which is surprising, because milk chocolate is usually pretty cloying) and bite-sized, which is good for a grab-and-go dessert.  They reminded me slightly of Stella D’oro Swiss Fudge Cookies—and that is a very good thing.  I got rave reviews from the entire Department of English at Bishop Ahr High School, and that’s not a bad thing, either!

INGREDIENTS FOR CAKES:
1/4 c. plus 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 c. milk chocolate (I used chips)
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. self-rising flour, sifted

INGREDIENTS FOR GANACHE:
1/2 c. milk chocolate
2 tbsp. heavy cream
nonpareils, to decorate

Make the cakes: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line 12-16 mini muffin cups with paper liners.  (The original recipe gave a yield of 12 cupcakes, but I got 16 out of it—and the liners were filled to the brim with batter.  Use your best judgment here.)

Place the butter and chocolate in a double-boiler and stir until melted.  Remove mixture from heat and mix in the sugar and egg.  Stir in flour.

Pour into paper liners.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Leave in tin for 10 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the ganache: Place the chocolate and cream in a double-boiler, removing from heat until chocolate has almost melted.  Stir until remaining chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth.  Cool for 8 minutes, or until thickened slightly.

Spread about 1 tbsp. of ganache over each cake.  Decorate with nonpareils if you choose to make the cakes look like actual buttons; obviously a light color—white, silver, etc.—would work best to contrast with the chocolate ganache.