Passover is a tough time for desserts. It's a holiday full of tradition, but eating matzah for a week gets old. And not being able to use flour makes it difficult to bake a delicious dessert!
I have been experimenting for the past two weeks with various Passover friendly recipes. If you know of any good ones, please send it to me at baabaacupcake@gmail.com. I had some winners, and some losers. I will be sharing the winners with you. Trust me, you don't want to see what happened to the strawberry rhubarb compote cupcakes that I tried to make.
The first Passover treat that I would like to share with you is a chocolate chip brownie cuppie, modified from a brownie recipe from Mama Baa Baa Cupcake. She makes a killer regular brownie, so when she said that it was a good Passover-friendly brownie I knew that it would be good!
(If you are more interested in a brownie cupcake that does not involve matzo cake meal, try these yummy cuppies here)
Passover Chocolate Chip Brownie Cupcakes - Makes 5 dozen mini-cupcakes
- 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup matzo cake meal (available in the Kosher section and here
)
- 1/4 cup potato starch (available in the Kosher section and here
)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 6 oz chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line mini cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter together in a sauce pan or double boiler. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the eggs to the chocolate-butter mixture and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined.
- Add the matzo cake meal and potato starch to the large bowl. Mix until well combined.
- Add the vanilla and mix well.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon the batter into the tins and bake for approximately 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.
Unless I had mentioned that they were made with mazo cake meal, no one noticed that they were not made with actual flour! The batter itself tasted a lot like chocolate covered matzah, but the once it was baked it tasted just like a "regular" brownie! I think that the chocolate chips are key! If you wanted to get really adventurous, you could even add some walnuts into the mix.
As for the frosting, I just used my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe. Since it's spring, I decided to color the frosting pink, light green, and lavender. I always use Wilton's gel coloring
instead of the drops that you can buy at the grocery store. A little of it goes a long way and they have such great color options!
instead of the drops that you can buy at the grocery store. A little of it goes a long way and they have such great color options!
Are you new to using gel colors? Here's a quick guide on how to color your frosting with them:
First, start with a gob of plain frosting. Even if you plan to color all of the frosting the same, you should save some plain frosting just in case...
Next, use a toothpick (or a fork) and dip it into the gel to get a small amount on there.
Ok, so I clearly used a lot of color... but you should just use dabs at a time! Gel color is very potent.
Use a flexible spatula or spoon or whatever you find handy to mix the color until it is completely uniform.
If you find that your color is too light, add a small amount of color gel and mix again. Repeat as many times as necessary. If you added too much color and your frosting is now a deeper shade than you would like, use some of that reserved frosting to lighten it.
These cuppies are just so photogenic, no?
And they are sure to be a hit at your passover seder :)
