Brownie Bites/Cupcakes?

My Blog Site: Sandie from Inn Cuisine (a lovely blog by the way) e-mailed me and told me that she was unable to leave comments on my blog when I had the other theme, so I am in the process of changing things around (She just e-mailed me again and told me she is still having trouble! :( UF!). As you can see, there is still a lot to be done, so be patient with me. If you are unable to leave a comment on my blog, please send me an e-mail or something so that I can try to fix things. I've spent almost an entire day doing it, and I need to grade, gather data for my dissertation, and look for a summer job haha.
Now, the brownie bites. My adviser suggested that I thank the Spanish/Portuguese (and one Italian professor who is now my co-chair) linguistic faculty via e-mail for not kicking me out of the PhD program (all that said in my words of course haha). I told a colleague about her suggestion, and my colleague said that the protocol is to pass out "Thank You" cards! I didn't know about this custom, so when I learned about how formal it was, I decided to go beyond what was expected by not only passing out cards, but also baking up something yummy for the faculty.
I debated on trying a dessert I've never posted before on this blog, but I wanted to make something easy and something I knew tasted really good. That is how I decided on making this King Arthur Flour Brownies again but in small bite form. After the bites were done, I poured on some leftover ganache I made for another chocolate mousse cheesecake I made for my friend.

I made some with cupcake liners and some without.

The bites were a hit. My now ex-committee chair (she is still on my committee, though. Short, boring story) expressed her love of the bite a lot more vocally than the other profs haha. I then decided to tell her about my food blog and gave her my website address. I hope she visits!
In bite form, these brownies didn't form as crackly a top as they do in regular form. They were still very good. They tasted even better with homemade whipped cream on top. On eone of them, I put on ganache and then whipped cream! OMG! Amazing!! Too bad I had run out of ganache at that point. I plan to make these brownie bites/cupcakes again. Try them with both toppings for the full effect. Do I call these cupcakes? Brownie cakes? *scratches head in 'confusement'* hehe.

Last but definitely not least, to all of my professors, I say,
THANK YOU! ¡GRACIAS! GRAZIE! OBRIGADA!

Brownie Bites
adapted by King Arthur Flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa (I used regular cocoa this time around)
1 tsp salt (I used Kosher)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso powder (optional, but recommended)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 cups chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a muffin pan if not using liners. [If using liners, spray them with Baker's Joy or cooking spray because brownie batter sticks a lot more than cake batter.]

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

The last photo of the bowl is after microwaving the butter/sugar mixture again. Notice the difference in texture from the previous photo.

While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl (or stand mixer), and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
Add the flour and chips (optional), again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.
Spoon the batter into a lightly-greased muffin pan or greased cupcake liners. Bake the brownies for about 15 minutes (30 minutes if regular sized brownies), until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.