CHOCOLATE FUDGE PUMPKIN BROWNIES
The addition of pumpkin makes these chocolate brownies with fudge frosting extremely moist and rich
I recently prepared my Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting and Homemade Ginger Snaps for my nephew’s birthday. All I had, though, was a 29 ounce can of pumpkin.… This was twice the amount of pumpkin that I actually needed to prepare the aforementioned cake. I do NOT like to waste ingredients, so naturally, I began ruminating on how I could use up the other half of this open canned pumpkin.
It’s summertime, about 90 degrees here in Michigan. This doesn’t exactly inspire any pumpkin recipes. So maybe something a little less traditional using pumpkin… something with chocolate, perhaps.
I have been craving brownies lately (which is almost all the time), so could I possibly incorporate pumpkin into a brownie somehow??
I recall a while back trying a chocolate cake with pumpkin as an ingredient, and the pumpkin was barely detectable. In fact, I felt like it actually accentuated the chocolate. Yes, I could make chocolate brownies with pumpkin!
I wanted these brownies to have a deep, chocolatey flavor; I didn’t want the pumpkin to overtake it. So I added one full cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Hershey’s the best). I also made sure to add butter too, so this brownie recipe was still receiving the same construction treatment as a regular brownie recipe.
This brownie will be incredibly moist, so the toothpick test should come out with moist crumbs. And even though I assumed these were going to end up being overly fudgy, I STILL made the decision to create a fudge frosting recipe… it kinda sounded like it would make me sick from too much sugar, but it kind of sounded like what I wanted as well. So, it happened.
And these brownies were sooo good. They had a deep chocolate flavor, and the pumpkin made them very dense, with a moist cake-like texture. It’s like fudge…if it were cake. It’s hard to explain. But the fudge frosting only made it better… it was almost too much. But then I ate a second piece. I think anyone you make this for will do the same.
Recipe:
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Ingredients Section:
FUDGE FROSTING
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 3 TBS butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
PUMPKIN BROWNIES
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 2 1/4 cups white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Fudge Frosting (Recipe Follows)
- Graham cracker crumbs for sprinkling (optional)
Directions:
FUDGE FROSTING
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk and the sugar.
- Place the butter in the pan.
- Cook over medium-high heat, stirring with a rubber spatula until the butter has melted.
- Continue to stir until the mixture begins to bubble.
- Allow the mixture to boil for about 1 minute, without stirring.
- Remove from the heat after boiling, and immediately add chocolate chips and vanilla.
- Stir vigorously (And carefully! Mixture will be very hot) with a whisk or rubber spatula until the mixture becomes smooth and there are no longer solid chocolate pieces.
- Pour immediately on warm brownies, spreading evenly with a butter knife or rubber spatula. 9. Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, if desired.
PUMPKIN BROWNIES
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease (or use spray) a 9×9 inch square pan.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Stir together melted butter and sugar.
- Stir in the dry ingredients.
- Spread into the pan (batter will be thick).
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
- Prepare Fudge Frosting after removing the brownie from the oven (You can frost the brownie while it is still warm).
Notes about this recipe:
- The frosting will seem too “runny” at first, but it will start to thicken after being poured on the warm brownies. The brownie pan will be very full! This will turn soft-set, like a ganache.
- I sprinkle the brownies with graham cracker crumbs because I cut and individually wrap these brownies, and I want to create a “buffer” between the frosting and the plastic wrap
