Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes
From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 12

8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
12 small (1 ½-inch) chocolate-covered peppermint patties, such as York Peppermint Patties

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally just until melted, 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Remove bowl from heat. Whisk in sugar and salt until mixture is smooth; whisk in eggs to combine. Gently whisk in flour and cocoa until just smooth (do not overmix.)
3. Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into each lined cup. Place one peppermint patty on top, gently pressing into batter. Top with 2 tablespoons batter, covering patty completely. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted halfway in centers (above mint patty) comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Mint Frosting
From Joy of Baking.com
Makes enough to spread a thin layer on 12 cupcakes

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or 1-2 tablespoons creme de menthe
green food coloring (optional)

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat all the ingredients until smooth. Add a few drops of green food coloring if you want the frosting green. If the frosting is too thick, add a little extra cream. (The frosting should be just thin enough to spread.) Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled brownies.

Chocolate Glaze
From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 1 ¼ cups
(I halved this recipe)

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1. Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.
2. Using a flexible spatula, gently stir chocolate and cream until totally combined; begin near the center of the bowl and gradually work your way toward the edge, pulling in as much chocolate as possible, until the mixture is smooth and glossy. (If any chocolate pieces remain, strain mixture through a fine sieve and discard solids.) If not using immediately, glaze can be refrigerated up to 5 days in an airtight container. Reheat gently before using.

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My dad is seriously the hardest person to buy gifts for. He’s not your typical dad-like guy. He doesn’t care for sports, unless it’s Nascar or involves guns. He’s not a Master Griller. In fact, he doesn’t even touch the grill. He doesn’t drink beer or play poker. He’s not big into reading unless it’s a magazine like Field and Stream or Aviation History, and the only ones he reads he’s already subscribed to. He doesn’t wear ties, and he’s got way too many coffee mugs as it is. My mom’s a piece of cake. She likes lighthouses, cookbooks, and handheld electronic games she can play while my dad is watching whatever hunting show is on at the time. If she had her way, she’d read a romance book a day while sitting on the deck enjoying the sunny afternoon. I never have any trouble finding something for her. But my dad? It’s next to impossible. I know for sure he likes hunting, old guns, cowboy action shooting, and building airplanes. And not just the models. Real, life-sized, flyable airplanes. In the garage. (We’ve always been the interesting [aka: crazy] neighbors because of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been rudely awakened at 8am to help hold a wing up. Nothing like being half asleep next to an airplane in the front yard in polka dot pajamas for the whole neighborhood to see.) But I know nothing about guns, and where on Earth do I buy airplane parts? See my dilemma? I always feel bad when holidays and birthdays roll around, because I can shower my mom with gifts, but my dad always ends up with a gift card to a sporting goods store. How completely unoriginal. So, I decided to switch it up. This year, he’s getting baked goods.

I made cutout sugar cookies for my dad last year for Father’s Day in the shape of cowboy boots and hats, but I didn’t have time to do it again this year. This year, I spent the whole Father’s Day weekend at work. (I did the same for Mother’s Day… so my mom still hadn’t gotten her new skillet.) I decided on Tuesday to celebrate a belated Father’s Day, but I didn’t have the energy to put into making and icing cutouts again, so I had to think of another recipe that my dad would love. During my dozen or so reads through the Martha Stewart Cupcake book, I had marked to try the Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes. This sounded like the perfect treat for my dad. He always has York Peppermint Patties stashed, and he can devour an entire pan of brownies in a day. Plus, it’s the perfect excuse to break in my Martha book!

The recipe is totally 1 bowl-simple. I melted my chocolate and butter in the microwave to make it even easier. Mix all your other ingredients in the same bowl, fill the cupcake liners halfway, plop a York Peppermint Patty on top, and fill about 2/3 full. Bake for 35 minutes, and Ta-Da! Greatness! I’m sure these would be wonderful just plain, but I wanted to take the minty goodness even further, so I topped my cupcakes with a thin layer of mint frosting, and drizzled a chocolate glaze over top. They were so good. Very fudgy and minty and delicious. Definitely a brownie to eat with a tall glass of milk to wash down the fudginess.


I took them to my parent’s, along with my mom’s Mother’s Day skillet, but my dad had just had a piece of cake right before we arrived, so the cupcakes weren’t tasted while we were there. Hopefully I’ll hear from someone soon about how it went. I did, however, save a couple for Boyfriend since he didn’t get to try the Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes I made last week, and he gave them an A+! But as he found out, if you put them in the fridge, the paper liner kind of sticks… So go ahead and leave them out at room temperature. Or pop them in the microwave for a few seconds. It makes the insides all “yum and warmy.” Apparently they’re just too good for real words.

Also, the morning I baked, I saw on Twitter that Heavenly Housewife had made some sugar cookies that looked fantastic, so I decided to whip some of those up too to take with me. My dad is a big fan of sugar cookies, and would constantly steal handfuls of my cutouts, before they were even iced, so I thought these would be perfect! Simple little yummy sugar cookies that I didn't have to roll out and make icing for! These did get eaten while I was there, and everyone loved them! They're chewy in the center with the edges just a little crunchy. Mmm! I’m definitely going to be making these again! Just make sure your dough is well chilled before you bake them. Mine spread a bit, but it was also creeping past 80 degrees in the house at the time.. But guess what? My AC is fixed!! (We'll see how long that lasts..) So no more sweating in the apartment! And I've figured out the secret to getting the maintenance people to show up. Throw some cookies or cupcakes in the oven. They seem to magically appear every time I'm baking something, so I think they're drawn to the smell of baked goods! So next time you're stuck waiting for hours for the cable guy, head over to From Donuts to Delirium for Heavenly Housewife's recipe, and they'll be ringing your doorbell in no time. Thanks HH!