The Fate of the Leftover Brownies

I have a tale to weave my friends, of the brownies who were left behind after their delicious counterparts had already been gobbled the night previous in a sugar deprived haze.
These lonely chocolate souls awaited their fate on the counter of my kitchen thinking of the simple days and wondering when they too would be plated plainly and savoured simply with a cup of tea. Little did they know that some brownies are bound to have greatness thrust upon them, whatever their humble beginnings might have been.....

Right now, some of you are probably thinking, Amy, why did you have leftover brownies? What on earth could those chocolate morsels have ever done to you that you could neglect them so badly and leave them alone all day? Well friends, it's called moderation and because I wanted to build something a little exciting out of them when I had a friend over for dinner on Friday night. These plain but delicious brownies became perfectly fancy mini desserts when paired with some other everyday ingredients that I had on hand.

On Thursday I made some delicious Healthy Secret Brownies (recipe to come) and I got to thinking how even more tasty they might be as a dressed up brownie trifle when my friend Caroline came to dinner.

Firstly I took a cookie cutter that would result in pieces of brownie small enough to fit in the bottom of the small glasses in which I planned to serve dessert.

After the brownie medallions were safely tucked into their new glass homes I mixed about 1/3 cup of milk and two teaspoons of instant coffee powder and heated it in the microwave for thirty seconds. Remember to use a large enough microwave safe bowl otherwise your milk will foam over the top (not that I know this from experience...). I then drizzled about a tablespoon of the mixture over each brownie and put them in the refrigerator to macerate in the caffeine elixir.

When dessert time came I warmed up each bowl for about a minute in the microwave and topped them with a correspondingly tiny scoop of ice cream and some toasted chopped almonds.

Oh, and some shaved chocolate because, they are only mini you know....