Salted Brownie Bites

Mud everywhere. Two-mile driveway is a long mud track. Cattle work this week. Patrick rode in the truck. He pointed out two heifers I had not noticed. He sees things I do not. The work is shared.

Patrick on the porch in the afternoon. Coffee in the good cup. The cottonwoods.

Eggs and bacon over the fire. The morning was cold. The fire was warm. The food was good.

Tomorrow I move the herd to the upper pasture. That is the next thing.

Mended the chute hinge Wednesday. Welder was finicky. Got it on the third try. Patrick used to do this. I do it now.

Storm came through Friday night. Thunder. The dog hid under the bed. The kids slept through it. The cattle bunched up by the windbreak. Standard.

Drove the back fence line Saturday. Two posts down from elk. Replaced them in the morning. The fence held the rest of the week.

Hank, the dog, herded the chickens by accident. He apologized in the way dogs apologize — eyes down, tail low. The chickens were unimpressed.

Truck started cold Tuesday. Twelve below. Battery is the original. I will replace it before next winter. I always say I will replace it before next winter. I never have.

Listened to the cattle market report on AM radio while I worked the shop. Beef is up. Feed is up. The math is the math.

The wood pile is half what it was at Thanksgiving. I will split another cord on Saturday. The cord will be ready by next winter. The wood always is.

Took a walk to the river before supper Tuesday. The cottonwoods were silver. The water was running. I did not think much. I just walked.

Worked on the truck Saturday afternoon. Plugs and wires. Two hours. Hands black with grease. Came in. Showered. Ate.

The Musselshell was clear Sunday. Could see trout in the deeper pools. Did not fish. Just watched.

A neighbor's heifer was choking on a corn cob. I drove over with my emergency kit. Cleared the cob with a length of garden hose. The heifer recovered. The neighbor brought a pie the next day.

Mr. Whelan from down the road came over Saturday with a story about a horse he sold in 1979. The story took an hour. I listened. He needed someone to tell it to.

The Tuesday Roundup AA meeting was eleven this week — three new guys from a referral. The room was full. The coffee was strong.

The barn cats are doing their job. Down to one mouse this week, in the feed shed. The cats brought it to the porch as proof. They are professionals.

Three days of horses this week. The work is meditative. The horses know. The owners pay. The cycle holds.

Wrote a blog post Friday night. The first one in two months. About making chili in a snowstorm. Short. Practical. Posted it. Forgot about it.

A reader emailed about the elk chili recipe. Asked what beer to use if non-alcoholic was not available. I wrote back: any beer is wrong if you don't drink. Use stock.

Hauled three bull calves to the auction yard Wednesday. Got a fair price. Came home. Counted the cash. Put it in the ranch account.

Drove to Billings for parts Friday. Stopped at the cemetery on the way home. Stood for ten minutes. Came home.

The neighbor brought a pie after I cleared that corn cob. Didn’t have to. Just showed up with it. That kind of thing stays with you. I’ve been thinking about what I keep on hand for when it’s my turn to show up — something that doesn’t require an occasion or an explanation. These salted brownie bites are what I land on: small enough to leave without making a production of it, good enough that nobody’s going to complain, and simple enough to make on a Friday night after a long week of fence posts and cattle work.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 37 min | Servings: 24 bites

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Flaky sea salt, for topping

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin well, or line with paper liners.
Melt the butter. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter completely. Remove from heat and let cool for two minutes.
Combine wet ingredients. Whisk sugar into the melted butter until combined. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each. Stir in vanilla.
Add dry ingredients. Sift in cocoa powder, flour, fine salt, and baking powder. Stir until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips if using.
Fill the tin. Spoon batter evenly into the prepared mini muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
Salt the tops. Pinch a small amount of flaky sea salt over each cup before baking.
Bake. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until the tops are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
Cool. Let bites cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Finish cooling completely before stacking or wrapping to give away.

Nutrition (per serving)

Salted Brownie Bites — Something Sweet to Leave on a Neighbor’s Porch