Mexican Brownie Tequila Cupcakes

Happy Halloween everyone! October's been a crazy busy month, but what month isn't busy in grad school? Good thing this month ends with being able to dress up and bake adorable Halloween-themed cupcakes!

I previously made these little owl cupcakes before, but this time, I used a different recipe for cupcake. Since I had a bunch of alcohol to get rid of (so much leftover from my last party), I decided to make Mexican brownie cupcakes - chocolate with cinnamon and cayenne to give it a little kick and tequila to give it an even extra kick!

The cupcakes ended up being very dense and fudge-y, just the way I like my brownies! As they cooled, I whipped up a batch of chocolate tequila ganache to frost the cupcakes with. Decorating these was the best part. I split Oreos in half and used the ganache as glue to stick Reese's Pieces to make the eyes. After sticking the eyes onto the cupcakes (again, with ganache), I finished them off with an orange Reese's Piece for the beak!

Looking forward to seeing all the creative costumes tonight!

Mexican Brownie Cupcakes (makes about 16 cupcakes)
Adapted from BetterRecipes

Cupcakes:

• ¾ cup (94 g) flour
• ¼ cup (21 g) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp cayenne 
• Dash of nutmeg, allspice, ginger, cardamom (to taste)
• 8 oz of semi-sweet baking chocolate
• ¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, unsalted
• 1¼ cup (250 g) white sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp tequila 

Ganache:

• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp tequila 
• Oreos and Reese's Pieces, for decorations

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, and other spices
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring constantly until smooth
4. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar and salt by hand
5. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and tequila by hand until smooth.
6. Whisk in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 
7. Fill cupcake liners with about 3 Tbsp of batter per liner
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean
9. Let cool.
10. In the meantime, make the ganache. Put the chocolate chips in a bowl. Bring cream to boil in a small saucepan and pour it over the chocolate chips. Stir until combined and smooth. Stir in vanilla and tequila. 
11. Frost the cupcakes and add the eyes and beaks!
12. Enjoy!