All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
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OK, kiddies, it was my friend Alyse’s birthday this week & I hosted a little dinner for her. And I made CUPCAKES! I seldom eat dessert foods myself – mainly because I prefer to get my sugar from a wine glass – so I have posted precious few dessert recipes. But a birthday certainly called for a dessert item so I seized the opportunity. Please know, I am not part of this whole cupcake craze but cupcakes really are a superior choice for birthdays (in my opinion) as they are a reasonable serving size & you can kinda mix up the flavors a bit more than one can with a cake. And they travel easily.
For these guys, I had a huge, industrial-sized box of brownie mix:
Then I went to store & bought everything I could think of that I might want to use for brownies including eggs & powdered sugar & cream cheese & pudding & jimmies & sprinkles & raspberries & marshmallows & marshmallow fluff & Reese’s Cups & two kinds of frosting etc etc. Then I realized I was only feeding four people so there was no need to make 4372 cupcakes. After some consideration, I elected to make the cupcakes from the brownie mix – and chose to top some with peanut butter frosting & drizzle caramel sauce on them & salt them. Others – I filled with a marshmallow fluff center & a raspberry inside & atop the chocolate ganache frosting. Unfortunately – the one cupcake I cut into for the photos had an anemic amount of cream – or maybe the cream was inserted off-center so it is hiding in the photo.
But know – I sent the bulk of these cupcakes home with my friend Rose for her teenage sons & I saw a photo she took of one & the center was creamy, indeed. Here is that photo:
All I know is, I injected a bunch of cream in them & then they settled – leaving a gap in their volcano openings – so I rammed a raspberry inside each of them. Indelicate but delicious!
Reese’s Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting & Salted Caramel
INGREDIENTS
Brownie mix (be sure to have the eggs & oil you need as per the box)
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (I used full-sized)
Caramel sauce (from the ice cream aisle)
Course salt
Peanuts – for garnish
For the peanut butter frosting
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)
1/2 cup butter (or lard or shortening)
2 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS
Make the brownie mix as per box.
For the frosting – blend all but the powdered sugar ( I did this in my food processor). Then I added the sugar. Start with 2 cups & test for sweetness. Add more – if you think it should be sweeter.
To assemble, I lined a cupcake pan with liners, put a tiny dollop of brownie batter to just cover the bottoms, put a Reese’s Cup in each & then topped with more brownie batter. Bake them according to box instructions. Then, frost them with the peanut butter frosting. Drizzle the caramel on them, lightly salt them & top with a peanut. Put them on the ground and roll around on them naked.
Or serve them to your friends. Your call.
Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache, Raspberries & Cream
INGREDIENTS
Brownie mix (be sure to have the eggs & oil you need as per the box)
Raspberries
7 ounce jar of marshmallow fluff
4 TBS butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp water
1/4 tsp salt
For the ganache
1 cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate is nicer but I used semi-sweet milk chocolate)
3/4 cup heavy cream
DIRECTIONS
Make the brownie mix as per box. Bake them as directed.
To make the cream filling, dissolve the salt in 1 tsp hot water. Blend the fluff, butter, powdered sugar, salted water, and vanilla. I did this in my food processor. I then put this in a Ziplock bag & cut a corner out. I used this as a make-shift pastry bag. A real pastry bag would be great, too.
When the brownies are done & cooled a bit, use a paring knife & create little cavities in their centers.
Squeeze some cream filling into each. Fill to the top & let rest a bit. If the cream settles – either add more cream or shove a raspberry in there like the killer on Twin Peaks used to shove a tiny letter under the fingernail of his/her victims (remember that?).
Over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. A double boiler is best for this but I was lazy. I melted them a bit & then just added the heavy cream & whisked it all together.
Dip the cupcakes into the ganache & then top with another raspberry. Voila!
These are also good to roll around on nude but that can get awkward at a birthday party. Maybe just stick them all on a tray & serve them the traditional way.
Delightful-Delicious-Delovely 