Quick baking help - M&M mini brownies?

[sarahsthreads]

OK, I have the "bake them in a mini muffin tin" bit under control, but if I want to put mini red & green M&Ms on top, should I do that before I put them in the oven? Part way through? They only need to bake for 12-15 minutes or so...

(I'm hopeful these will both look festive and be easier to transport than frosted brownies for tomorrow's class party!)

Thanks!
Sarah

[newnana]

I do not know the answer to this. I do know that about a month ago we were making a pan of brownies with a cook time of closer to 40 minutes and tossed the m&m's on top and when we pulled it out of the oven there was no trace of m&m left.

So I'm thinking put them on after? or last few minutes?

of course, google is showing me that you just mix it in the batter and bake as usual. I am dubious. We were very disappointed that day.

[sarahsthreads]

We did a large panful recently and put them on 15 minutes before the end. (They *looked* beautiful, but my dog ate half the pan overnight - no idea how they tasted. Grumble.) But since that's pretty much the entire baking time for these little ones, I've just put the first batch in the oven with the m&ms on top to start out...we'll see what happens when I pull them out in a few minutes.

I'll update soon!

Sarah

[sarahsthreads]

Update: putting the m&m's on right before baking works for these mini-bites. So if anyone else needs a quick (and super super easy) treat to bring somewhere, here's what I did:

* 1 box brownie mix - I made the "cake like" version with the extra egg.
* mini muffin tins - I sprayed them with cooking spray, but the brownies still needed coaxing out of the pan. Probably a non-stick mini muffin pan would be a better choice.
* mini m&m's

Bake @ 350 for 14 minutes.

Put more m&m's on than you think you should, because they puff up a bit and the tops spread - the first batch looked a little skimpy on the m&m's.

The first batch I put a heaping Tbsp in each spot, and wound up with 33. The second batch I used an even Tbsp and got 36. (The only downside to a double, team-teaching classroom. You need 40 treats for any class party, which is *always* more than a single batch!)

Oh, and if you prefer the "edges" of brownies, these are great - every piece is an edge!

Sarah :)

[newnana]

Thanks!