Brown Butter Cupcake Brownies
- Total Time: 45 Minutes
Description
‘You all lose your heads when there’s chocolate in the kitchen!’ – Brock’s words. We eat pretty healthy over here…meaning, desserts are treats, not snacks, and they certainly don’t happen every day. So when we had occasion to celebrate, and not a lot of time, this was the perfect recipe to put together with the ‘help’ of the girls, browned butter and a fair amount of chopped chocolate (I believe that the chopped chocolate frenzy was what Brock was referring to). Borrowed from Food52’s, ‘Baking’ book, these are as terrific as they sound (and they freeze well!) – enjoy!
Ingredients
Brown Butter Cupcake Brownies – I think this recipe could make as many as 20
1 1/4 c. butter
2 1/4 c. sugar AND 1 1/2 c. cocoa
1 T. water AND 2 t. vanilla AND 1/2 t. salt
4 cold eggs
2/3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts
1 c. chopped bittersweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)
icing sugar for dusting if you wish
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 and generously butter and flour 2 nonstick muffin tins – I ended up making 15 cupcakes, but I feel they could have been smaller (and therefore tidier) so I’m quite certain this recipe could be stretched to 20 cupcakes.
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat and then swirl it occasionally as it begins to fizz, bubble and then eventually start to brown (and smell nutty). Remove the pot from the heat and immediately stir in the sugar, cocoa, water, vanilla and salt. Allow this mix to cool for a few minutes.
Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition, then add in the flour and beat by hand for about a minute. Stir in the walnuts and then spoon the batter evenly between the prepared cups, the batter will be very thick. These cupcakes don’t really rise, but I would recommend you fill each cup about 2/3’s to the top, then they will all be full to brim after the chocolate goes in. Press some chocolate into the center of each cup to create the ‘chocolate center’ (I was quite liberal with the chocolate, but the original recipe says ‘a few chips’), then add a titch of water to any empty muffin cups, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are set, but the middles are soft. It is very difficult to tell when these are cooked – I left mine for a full 20 minutes.
Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 15 minutes or so, then carefully remove each to an individual plate, and dust with sugar or garnish with berries. Ice cream would also go very well, but these are rich! We all had one each and then I individually wrapped what cupcakes were left in plastic wrap and then placed them in a freezer bag and they turned out beautifully when they were thawed and reheated.
- Category: Cupcakes, Make-ahead
