Really Enormous Chocolate Buttons Recipes

CHOCOLATE-NUT BUTTONS

Steps:

• Microwave 3 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate on 75% power until melted, about 2 minutes. Beat 1/4 cup peanut butter, 2 tablespoons softened butter and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Roll into balls. Dip in the melted chocolate, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 3 minutes.
• Copyright (c)2011 Food Network Magazine, LLC. Published by Hyperion. Available wherever books are sold. All Rights Reserved. Photograph courtesy of Antonis Achilleos.

REALLY ENORMOUS CHOCOLATE BUTTONS

Steps:

• Ask a grown-up to tear off some big sheets of baking parchment. Draw around a glass or saucer with a pencil to make big button shapes. Turn the paper over.
• Spoon a blob of chocolate into the middle of each circle and use a paint brush to spread it to the edges of the circle. Don't worry if it isn't neat.
• Decorate each button with sprinkles, sweets or blobs of other coloured chocolate.
• Leave the buttons to cool and set really hard, in the fridge if the room is hot. Once they are hard, peel them off the paper carefully and wrap up or eat.

SUPER CHOCOLATEY BUTTONS

Steps:

• Position racks in the lower and upper third of the oven. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. (If you don't have 3 pans, simply cool the pan between batches.)
• Put the butter, unsweetened chocolate and 4 ounces semisweet chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 75 percent power in the microwave until soft, about 2 minutes. Stir and heat again until melted, up to 2 minutes more. (Alternatively, put the chocolates and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching the water, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth.)
• Stir the granulated and light brown sugars and vanilla into the chocolate mixture with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat vigorously until thick and glossy.
• Whisk together the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa and the salt in another bowl. Add them to the egg mixture and stir until just mixed. Stir in the remaining chip-size semisweet chocolate. Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm enough to scoop, about 1 hour.
• Roll the dough into scant 1 tablespoon (about 3/4 inch) balls and place 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put the remaining 1/2 cup cocoa powder and the confectioners' sugar in two separate bowls for rolling. Roll the dough balls in the confectioners' sugar, then in the cocoa powder and place on the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies set but are soft and fudgy on the inside, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

CHOCOLATE BUTTONS

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
• Place butter and bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates in a heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir until smooth.
• With a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat eggs and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and chocolate-butter mixture. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Let dough stand for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop teaspoons of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until just set (interior will be fudgy), about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

CHOCOLATE BUTTON MUFFINS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/Gas mark 6.
• Place the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, sugars and milk in a large mixing bowl and beat together.
• In another bowl sift the flour, add the baking powder and salt and mix well.
• Stir the chocolate pieces into the flour. Pour the liquid into the flour and mix togehter until just blended.
• Line a muffin tray with paper cases and sill each case to just below the top with the muffin mixture. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes.