Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies Turned Cupcakes

Happy New Year’s Eve!

For our celebration I made Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies, but instead of making a pan of brownies I made them into cupcakes.  One reason being that it would be easier to serve that way.  Sometimes brownies really crumble apart when you cut them.

Originally I was thinking I wanted to bake something that had either a vegetable or fruit in the recipe, just for a little added nutritional value.  I thought about an apple or banana cake, with a little bit of whip cream topping instead of a lot of heavy frosting.

When searching recipes I came across the Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies from MarthaStewart.com and thought it would be a fun one to try.  I bought a can of 100% pure pumpkin to use in the recipe.

To the original recipe I made 2 changes, I cut all the ingredients in half, because I didn’t want to make as many, as well I did not add nuts.  Making a half batch I still filled 10 cupcake cups, which was even more than I anticipated.

Here are the ingredients in the proportions I used them:

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies (adapted from MarthaStewart.com)

Ingredients:

½ stick unsalted butter, plus more for pan (I opted to use cooking spray for pan instead)

3 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate

1 cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

1 -1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan with 10 liners and spray with cooking spray.

Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water; stir until smooth.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt; whisk (whisking is a good way to sift the ingredients).

In a bowl using an electric mixer, combine sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy about 4 minutes.

Next beat in the flour mixture.

Divide the batter into 2 bowls.  In one bowl combine batter with chocolate mixture, and in second bowl combine batter with pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Put half of the chocolate mixture divide into cups.  Top with half the pumpkin mixture.  Repeat with remaining chocolate mixture, then pumpkin mixture.  Use a knife to swirl the 2 batters.

Bake about 40 minutes until set.

Cool on a wire rack.

 

Here is the before picture.

This is my first time making this recipe so in the next post I will let you know how well they came out.  I plan on topping them with a dollop of whip cream and colourful sprinkles to make them more special for the kids.

Enjoy your evening, and have a very happy New Year’s Eve!