I first had these amazing treats back in my college days. A friend of mine was famous for them, and I talked her into sharing the recipe with me. As I remember, her family called them "mall" cups because that is where they used to buy them. They are stupendous! A salty chocolate brownie cup studded with chocolate chips and filled with a cream cheese frosting..... who can resist!
Chocolate Mall Cups
Makes 1 dozen
10 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup gluten free 1:1 flour (we use Bob's Red Mill 1:1)
Heaping 1/3 cup baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons milk
Grease muffin pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop about 1/8 cup batter (I use a muffin scoop) into each cup of muffin pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes until set on edges, but still soft in the middle. Remove and press center down with small cup or spoon to make a well. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
Beat frosting ingredients together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Scoop into a piping bag or zipper bag with cut corner and fill the chocolate cups.
Step-by-step tutorial:
Gather your ingredients. You will need butter, brown sugar, sugar, an egg, vanilla, gluten free flour, baking cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and semisweet chocolate chips.
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop into a greased muffin pan (I use my largest cookie scooper which is perfect for muffin size).
Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes, or until edges are set and middle is still soft. After removing from the oven, press center down with a small cup or spoon to make a well. Let them cool at least 10 minutes in the pan.
Run a metal spatula around the edges and then carefully remove onto a wire rack to cool completely.
In a mixing bowl, beat the frosting ingredients together until smooth.
Spoon into a piping bag and fill each cup. There will be plenty of frosting to really fill them up even higher than the tops of the cups.
Wherever my friend got these at the mall way back in the day, I can see why they were so popular. The brownie cup is salty and chocolatey, then full of gooey chocolate chips.
The cream cheese frosting is the perfect pairing with the salty chocolate. These are so stupendous!!
If you share them, which may be hard to do, I guarantee you will be asked for the recipe. You can tell them it was a secret family recipe at one time that is now famous, even in the gluten free world!
Recipe Source: Recipe adapted from a recipe shared with me by Cooper Burgess at BYU