Pumpkin Kiss Brownies

By trishg

Ingredients

• Chocolate Truffle Brownies:
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 6 ounces unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 & 1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup AP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 16 pumpkin kisses - optional!
• Pumpkin Kiss Ganache:
• 10 ounces (1 bag) Hershey's pumpkin kisses
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Dark Chocolate Glaze:
• 2 & 1/4 ounces unsalted butter
• 4 ounces dark chocolate
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8″ x 8″ pan with parchment paper & spray with non stick spray.
Melt chocolate & butter together.
Mix eggs & sugar with whip attachment a few minutes until eggs thicken and get lighter in color.
Mix in vanilla.
Pour melted chocolate/butter mixture into mixer. Make sure it warm, not hot.
Add flour, baking soda, espresso powder, cinnamon, salt, and mix just to combine.
Pour batter into pan.
If you want to put kisses in the brownies, this is when you will do so. Unwrap and drop them on top of the batter. If not, skip this step and just pop em in the oven.
Bake at 325 degree for 40-45 minutes rotating once halfway through.

Pumpkin Kiss Ganache:

Bring cream up to a scald and pour over kisses.
Stir together till smooth and set aside.
When brownies are completely cool, pour ganache on top.
Refrigerate till set.

Chocolate Glaze

Melt butter and chocolate together.
Stir in light corn syrup.
Quickly pour over brownies. I recommend using the glaze a little warmer than room temp.
Refrigerate till set.
Cut brownies with a clean, hot knife to get a clean cut

Notes:

As I mentioned in the post, I tried them twice, once with kisses in the brownies and once without. I prefer no candy in the brownies, but it is totally up to you!

When using the glaze, you want it to be warm, but not super hot.

Letting the brownies chill completely before cutting them will ensure that they cut clean. Most importantly, use a hot, clean knife when you cut them!

You can either get 9 or 12 out of this batch. When I cut 12 I thought they were kind of small, but they are very rich so it wound up being the perfect size.

These will stay for about a week in the fridge, but they have a tendency to disappear very quickly.

Remember these are truffle brownies, meaning they will sink a little in the middle when you take them out of the oven. That's good and leaves a nice space to fill with ganache