Mississippi Mud Cupcakes

Being on the fun committee at work has it's perks. Like, I get to bake and test out new recipes, and the company pays for the ingredients. Could it get any better? I think not. I was tasked with making a variety of mini cupcakes for the BBQ potluck we had recently. I'm a few days late in the posting of it, but I was recovering from the baking hangover I had. We had Salted Caramel cupakes, Lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting, and Mississippi Mud (with a few that the nuts and such were left out of for the chocolate but not nutty lovers). Did I mention the baking hangover? So. Cupcakes. Chocolate. Goodness. They went over well. 

Ingredients: 

1cup butter (2 sticks)

4oz good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

2cups sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4tsp salt

1/2-1cup chopped/crushed walnuts or pecans, divided (optional)

1/2 cup Mallow Bits (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º. Place nuts in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until toasted. Set aside.

Heat butter and semi-sweet chocolate together until melted and smooth, either in a double boiler or microwave, stirring often. 

Whisk everything else into chocolate mixture except nuts until well mixed. Fold in mallow bits and all but 2 tbsp of the nuts. Spoon evenly into mini-muffin cups. You can do this in regular muffin cups, but I can't guarantee the result. The mini's turned out perfect. 

Bake for 16-20 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting, finish by sprinkling remaining toasted nuts over fresh frosting. I used a chocolate cream cheese frosting for mine (4oz softened cream cheese, 4oz softened butter, 1tsp vanilla, 3/4c cocoa powder, 2-3c powdered sugar, and 1-3tbsp heavy cream).