Monday, March 30, 2009

All Dressed Up

I needed to make a treat today for Family Night and also for a gift to give to someone. I didn't feel like cupcakes (I know- shocker) and I tossed around the idea of banana bread, but then the box of brownie mix seemed to be calling me.

Now, normally I do like to make brownies from scratch. It's really not that hard and if more than likely you have all the ingredients you need already in your pantry. For convenience (and also because I like the outcome) I like to use this recipe that is made with cocoa powder. The brownie mix, however, is always in the pantry because it's so darn easy and the kids love to help and it's there when you need to take something in a flash. I didn't feel like plain ol' brownies today, so I decided to see what I had in my pantry and jazz them up a bit.


After a quick look, I decided to incorporate the leftover white chocolate I had from my iron cupcake this month and my chocolate jimmy sprinkles. I was tempted to add in to the mix of ingredients the fantastic pecans my neighbor brought me back from Texas, but crushing and shelling pecans was just not in the time table today.

I went ahead and preheated the oven, whipped up the brownie mix, added some mini chocolate chips for a guaranteed chocolate overload and then, PANIC! I realized my 9x13 baking pan was sitting in the fridge with premade enchiladas in it for tonight's dinner. Problem was I had already made the batter.

What's a cupcake loving girl to do? Turn them into brownie cups, of course! Now, I know this is far from rocket science and no, this isn't the first time anyone has ever done this. In fact, you probably already have. But I just thought I'd share. I lined the cupcake pan with regular liners and filled them about 3/4 full. They were baked at 350 for 25 minutes and were perfect when they came out. I think that you could probably leave them at this point and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and they would be very sweet little cakes. I wanted a little more decadent of a topping, so I melted the white chocolate in a double boiler and then drizzled HEAVILY over the cooling cups. A little sprinkle of chocolate jimmies and you are set!!


I think I'll call them my little tuxedo cups since they are black and white. I had a little batter left over and wend ahead and tried this out in a mini cupcake pan as well. They were adorable and bite sized little morsels of chocolate delight! There are tons and tons of variations you could do. This ones a keeper.

Here's your recipe!

1 brownie mix for a 9x13 pan
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate
chocolate jimmies

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together mix, eggs, oil, water and chips until well combined. Line muffin cups with liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full and bake for about 25 minutes. Toothpick should come out with moist crumbs. Let cool. While cooling, melt white chocolate in double boiler. Transfer to a ziploc bag and snip end. Drizzle white chocolate on top of brownie cups and sprinkle with jimmies. Enjoy!!

6 comments:

Sara Walker said...

Those look awesome!
-Does Jon ever get sick of you taking pictures while you cook? I can just hear Brandon saying, 'enough already, just finished the darn things!'

Sara Walker said...

Oh, thought of you today when I saw this blog: http://gaigeredd.com/robotcarnage/ -It's my friend's husband's blog, he's pretty funny, and it looks like you have peanut butter and bacon in common.

Snooky doodle said...

what a yummy cupcake . look so nice dressed up like this :)

Michael M. said...

I ate one of these for breakfast this morning. it was great. Thank you.

The McPherson Clan--- said...

I had one of these puppies and I guarantee their complete deliciousness 100%!!

amylouwhosews said...

um, i've never made brownies into cupcakes... and I can't even say I've thought to do it. But I think I will!

I did make brownies one year and then cute them out with an egg shaped cookie cutter and then decorated them like easter eggs. Does that count?