Borrowed Brilliance: Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes from kevinandamanda.com

I stumbled across this recipe yesterday on kevinandamanda.com, and though I haven't been able to try it yet, it just looked too scrumptious not to share.  You can check out her original post here, but here's the recipe just as she posted it:

photo pulled directly from kevinandamanda.com

Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes
with Outrageously Rich Chocolate Indulgence Frosting

BROWNIE BATTER

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup milk
1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Using a small scoop (about 1.5 tbsp) drop batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze overnight.

CUPCAKES

1 (18.25 oz) box devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) pkg Jello instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and line with cupcake liners. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips into a very large bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 mins until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a large scoop (about 3 tbsp) drop batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 2/3rds full. Remove brownie batter from freezer and press into the cupcake batter. Bake for 22-28 mins. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

5 sticks butter, softened
8 oz powdered sugar
1.5 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
a pinch of table salt
1.5 cups light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz milk chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring well every 30 seconds. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a food processor and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl as needed. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, about 5-10 seconds. Scrape the bowl again, then add the melted chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, about 10-15 seconds. You can use a mixer for this too, if you don’t have a food processor, just don’t whip the butter too much! :) Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.

Makes & frosts 36 cupcakes.

Thank you so much for sharing, Amanda!  Seriously, if you have never visited their site, you should check it out.  (They do way more than just great recipes.)  And, her original post has a ton of fantastic tips for making this recipe even easier, and lots more pictures of the process. 

Chocolate Covered Nuts

Has anyone else noticed that I've posted more chocolate recipes than anything else?  I promise, there is another non-chocolate recipe coming soon!

These candies are absolutely delicious, and so very easy to make.  First, choose your nuts.  You can make your candy with only one kind of nut in it, or you can use several.  The candy pictured above was made with 9oz cashews, and 6 oz each of pecans, walnuts, and macadamia nuts, all mixed in together.  You can use pretty much whatever you want, just make sure they are pieces (not whole nuts) and stay away from salted nuts.  The nuts from the baking aisle at the grocery store work very well, but if you're like me, and can't find unsalted cashews, go for the lightly salted variety.

Next up, choose your chocolate.  You can melt down pretty much any solid chocolate you like.  The first time I did this, it was to get rid of the Easter chocolate I bought too much of when it went on sale right after Easter.  There was a dark chocolate bunny, a milk chocolate egg, and some semi-sweet chocolate chips to fill it out.  This time, I used a 12oz bag of milk chocolate chips and a 24oz bag of semi sweet and I really like the result.

 

 As for quantities, I like to have slightly more chocolate than nuts.  This time around it was 36oz chocolate to 27oz mixed nuts, and as you can see from the photo, my candies are very nutty.  If you want there to be more chocolate and less nut, well, then use more chocolate!  There's no right or wrong answer here, so I suggest that you play with this, until you get them the way you like them.

 

In addition to the nuts and chocolate, you will need a double boiler (or you can use a bowl set into a pot), a spatula scraper, a wax paper lined cookie sheet, a pizza cutter and a large cutting board.  Melt your chocolate in the double boiler over medium heat, stirring regularly, until all of the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in your nuts.   Use the spatula scraper to scoop the mixture onto the lined cookie sheet, spread it out and press it in.  (Try not to let it get any thicker than about 3/4" or it will be hard to cut.  Use more than one tray if necessary.)  Cool completely.  It will take about 3 hours in a refrigerator, but if you're cooling it on the counter, it'll need to sit over night.  Once the candy is completely cool, lift it out of the tray using the wax paper and place it on the cutting board.  Use the pizza cutter to cut it into manageable squares and store your candy in a tightly sealed container, in a cool place.  Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chip Brownies

2 c (12oz) semi sweet chocolate chips, divided

½ c butter or margarine, cut into pieces

3 lg eggs

1¼ c all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp baking soda

½c chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease 13x9 in baking pan.  Melt 1 c of the morsels and all of the butter in a large, heavy duty sauce pan over low heat; stir until smooth.  Remove from heat. Stir in eggs.  Stir in flour, sugar, vanilla and baking soda.  Stir in remaining 1 c chocolate chips and nuts.  Spread into prepared baking pan.  Bake for 18-22 min or until wooden toothpick comes out slightly sticky when inserted into the center. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Cut into bars.

Deliciously Healthy Taco Salad

 

1 lb lean ground beef

1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed

½ tsp chili powder

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

½ c salsa, divided

1 tbsp lime juice

1½ c shredded lettuce

1 lg avocado, chopped

1 sm chopped tomato

¼ c red onion strips

baked tortilla strips

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef over medium heat.  Drain well and return to pan.  Mix in salsa, lime juice, beans, chili powder, salt, and pepper; heat through.  Divide lettuce among serving bowls.  Add meat mixture, and top with avocado, tomato, onion, and tortilla strips.  Serves 4.

Adrienne's helpful hint: Use a pizza cutter to cut tortillas into strips, and use the broiler setting on your oven to crisp them quickly.

Mrs. Sweet's Chocolate Cake

 1 box devil's food cake mix
8 oz sour cream

½ c canola oil
½ c water
4 eggs

sm box chocolate pudding mix
¼ c Kahlua or coffee (not hot)
1 tsp cinnamon

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
confectioners (powdered) sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease a standard bundt pan and set aside. Combine cake mix, pudding mix and cinnamon.  Add sour cream, oil, water, eggs, and Kahlua.  Blend mixture until smooth and thick.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake at 350°F for 50-60 min or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.  Cool 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan.  Sprinkle with sugar, and cool completely before serving.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

9" pie crust (I use the frozen rolled Pillsbury pie crusts.)

1 cup light corn syrup

3 large eggs

2 tbsp stick butter, melted

1½ tsp vanilla

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

¼ cup flour

½ tsp salt

1 cup pecan halves

½ cup chopped pecans

1 cup chocolate chips

Place oven rack in lowest third of the oven, and preheat to 350°F or 180°C. Unroll thawed pie crust and place it in a 9" pie plate, I've found that the glass works best. Trim edge to ½" around plate, and fold the excess under. Flute or crimp the edges. Set aside.

In large bowl, whisk together syrup, eggs, butter, vanilla, sugar, flour and salt. Stir in pecans (both the halves and the chopped) and chocolate chips. Pour into prepared crust. Bake 50 minutes at 350°F/180°C or until crust and pecans are browned. If the crust darkens too quickly, cover edges with foil. Cool completely on a wire rack.