Brownie Cupcakes

Brownies are a favorite of many. But if you don’t want to deal with cutting up bars, check out these brownie cupcakes instead. They’re just as easy to make and have a chocolate-kiss center. You can frost them or not as you see fit. Baking these as cupcakes makes packing them in a lunch easier, too, as you don’t have to take time to cut one out of the pan.

Another advantage of making these brownie cupcakes is their ease of use for beginner bakers. By using muffin cups, you don’t have any worry about the center of the pan underbaking while the edges bake too much. The brownies are already portioned equally. Do you know how some people prefer the edges and others like the center? Each cupcake has an edge and a center, so everyone gets the part they prefer.

Brownie Cupcakes Ingredients

• Butter: Creaming butter and white sugar produces a light, fluffy mixture that helps make the batter lighter and more airy. Use unsalted butter to better control the amount of sodium in each brownie and ensure the butter is softened. Unsoftened butter won’t cream properly, and you’ll have a chunky mixture.
• Sugar: White sugar creates lift when creaming with butter; brown sugar can work, too, but it will change the flavor of the brownies slightly.
• Eggs: Eggs play three roles here; one is to bind the ingredients, another is to help the batter have more structure and the third is to help the batter rise by incorporating some air into the batter.
• Vanilla extract: Even though you’re adding cocoa to these brownies, a little vanilla extract adds depth and fullness to the overall flavor.
• All-purpose flour: Gluten helps the batter rise and gives it a more robust and stable structure. However, some types of flour have too much gluten for this purpose. All-purpose flour has a decent gluten level and works very well in brownies.
• Baking cocoa: This provides the flavor and color of the brownies. Use cocoa instead of melted chocolate because cocoa powder doesn’t add moisture; use baking cocoa (and not that hot cocoa mix you have in the pantry) because that doesn’t have sugar or other additives.
• Baking powder: Baking powder acts as another rising agent. Use baking powder and not baking soda because the powder contains an acidic agent (cream of tartar) that activates the baking soda in the baking powder.
• Chocolate kisses: One of these poked into the top of each brownie looks cute and tastes excellent.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the brownie batter

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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl for five to seven minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and then the vanilla extract. Combine the flour, baking cocoa, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Gradually add this dry mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing well.

Step 2: Add the chocolate kisses

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Fill nine lined muffin cups with batter until each is 2/3 full. Push a chocolate kiss, pointed end first, into the top center of each.

Step 3: Bake the brownies

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Bake the brownies for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops spring back when you touch them lightly.

Brownie Cupcakes Variations

• Top each with a big swirl of chocolate frosting: Once the baking is done, you can serve the brownies as is or place a large dollop of your favorite chocolate frosting on top. You can also add another flavor that goes well with brownies, such as the frosting from this mint brownie cupcake recipe.
• Get creative with the kisses: Plain chocolate kisses are a great choice, but you can use any flavor that tastes good with chocolate. You can also try adding other candies or mixing them into a frosting, like in this chocolate-mint Shamrock cupcakes recipe.

How to Store Brownie Cupcakes

You can store unfrosted brownie cupcakes at room temperature, in the refrigerator or the freezer. The colder you keep them, the longer they’ll last; up to five days on the counter, up to two weeks in the refrigerator and up to two months in the freezer. (They’ll remain safe to eat past two months in the freezer if stored below 0°, but the risk of freezer burn increases past that.) In each case, the brownies need to be wrapped well in plastic wrap and then placed in an airtight container (that’s freezer-safe if you’re storing the brownies there). For freezer storage, wrapping an extra layer of foil around the plastic-wrapped brownies and then putting that package in the airtight container, may help reduce the risk of freezer burn. Frosted brownies need to be stored in the refrigerator.

How do you reheat Brownie Cupcakes?

If you want to eat unfrosted cupcakes warm, you can use the microwave or oven. In the microwave, heat a brownie cupcake or two for no more than 30 seconds. In the oven, reheat the cupcakes for about five minutes at 350°.

Brownie Cupcakes Tips

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Can you use vanilla bean paste if you don’t have vanilla extract?

Vanilla bean paste is an option if you don’t mind a more prominent vanilla flavor. Keep in mind that one of the appealing aspects of the paste is seeing those flecks of vanilla seeds in the final baked good and you won’t see those in a chocolate brownie cupcake.

Can you make different sized cupcakes with this recipe?

You can use different sizes of cupcakes and muffin cups with a couple of modifications. One is the baking time. You’ll still bake at 350°, but you’ll bake mini cupcakes for a shorter time and jumbo cupcakes for a longer time. Start checking mini cupcakes at nine minutes with a toothpick. You don’t want to try touching the cupcake yet to test if it springs back because you’ll just feel the hot batter if it’s not done. For larger cupcakes, like a jumbo-size cup, start checking at around 20 to 25 minutes, but be aware these could take a few minutes longer. The other modification is that if you want to make mini cupcakes, use mini chocolate kisses or chocolate chips instead of a regular-size kiss. Learn more about adapting recipes for different pan sizes.

How do you stop the muffin liners from tearing off bits of the sides and bottom of the cupcakes?

You can use several strategies here. Possibly the easiest is using nonstick liners. You can also spray the liners with cooking spray, although that can get a bit messy. Another thing you can do is wait for the brownie cupcakes to cool down; warm brownies tear more easily when you remove a liner.