Brownie Mint Birthday Cupcake Recipe

I place great importance on the cupcakes or cake used to celebrate a birthday so I am constantly trying new recipes to make sure that the dessert served on a birthday is simply amazing!  This recipe certainly falls into the amazing category.  I made them for my brother's birthday one year - he is a big chocolate and mint fan. This recipe is simple, it doesn't even need icing, but does well with a scoop of vanilla or mint chocolate chip ice cream on top.  As momstown celebrates our 6th birthday, I thought this was a great time to post this delectable recipe.

What you need:

8 ounces of semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 all purpose flour
1/4 Dutch cocoa
12 small/mini chocolate covered peppermint patties

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a muffin tin with paper liners (feel free to use some decorative birthday ones!). Put the chocolate and the butter in a bowl (microwave safe) and use the microwave to melt.  Do 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute, until melted.

Whisk in the sugar and salt, then eggs until all combined.  Gently add flour and cocoa and mix just until smooth (do not overmix).

Spoon one heaping tablespoon of batter into each lined up and place one peppermint patty on top.  Gently press it into the batter.  Top with 2 tablespoons of batter, covering the patty completely.  Bake for about 35 minutes but start checking them at 30 minutes, it is important not to over bake these treats. They are done when a toothpick inserted into the centre (above the patty) comes out with with just a few crumbs on it.