These Mini Brownie Bites with Cream Cheese Frosting are a two bite marvel and an absolute delicious addition to any Halloween Party!
When it comes to Halloween baking, I am not really much into the creepy, spooky or ghoulish treats but rather something that has the cutesy factor. These adorable mini brownie bites sure do and some! They are rich, chocolaty and dense in texture without being overly sweet.
If you are fairly new to baking, you will find them delightfully easy to make. And if piping the frosting seems somewhat intimidating to you, simply give it a try by practicing first. Set a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper on a counter. Fit any piping tip of your choice into a pastry bag, fill with frosting and start piping directly onto your parchment lined cookie sheet. Then simply scrape off the frosting back into the pastry bag and your good to go. Easy right!
The brownie recipe comes from one of my very own favorite magazines, Better Homes and Garden. I tweaked it somewhat, simply for personal taste, by using my favorite cream cheese frosting and tinted it with orange icing color and switched it up to give it a Halloween flare. I just adore the chocolate and cream cheese combination!
On that note, wishing you all, happy baking and a safe fun filled Halloween 🙂
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 3 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 pound butter
- 1/2 pound icing sugar
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- orange icing color ( I used Wilton’s)
Chocolate Glaze:
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 4 teaspoons corn syrup (light colored)
- nonpareils
Preheat oven to 350*F.
Grease mini muffin pans (you will need 36, 1 and 3/4 inch). Set aside.
Place the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl, stir and set it aside.
Beat sugar and eggs together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, on medium to high speed for about 2 minutes. It should look thick and pale yellow.
Next beat in the flour mixture just until smooth. Add in the 1/2 cup of melted butter and stir until combined. Drop about 1 teaspoon of the batter into each prepared muffin cup.
Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes. When a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean, you will know it’s ready. Let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes then carefully remove the brownies and transfer on a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting, combine the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat until combined. You can also use a food processor to mix the frosting ingredients together. Tint the icing with Wilton’s orange icing color. A little goes a long way so start with a little bit at a time, just until you get the desired color. I used barely 1/8 of a teaspoon.
Use a large pastry bag fitted with a star tip to pipe the frosting onto each brownie. (I used the 1M tip from Wilton). Refrigerate for 30 minutes, this will set the frosting making it easier to dip.
For the chocolate glaze, place 1/4 cup of cubed butter, 2 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate in a small sauce pan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth, then remove it from the heat and stir in the corn syrup. Set it aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
Once cooled, dip the top of each brownie into the chocolate glaze. Sprinkle the mini brownies with nonpareils and refrigerate till the chocolate is set for about 15 minutes.
These mini brownie bites with cream cheese frosting store very well in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Makes 36 adorable mini brownies!
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