Mini Brownies with Marshmallow & Mocha-Cream Cheese Frosting

I had a request for my mini brownies with vanilla pudding filling and mocha frosting for a baby shower that I was going to yesterday. When I went to make them I decided to change up the recipe slightly, as I had marshmallow fluff that needed to be used and I thought it would go just as well as the pudding had (looking back at my blog I am realizing I never put that recipe on here, so at the end of this recipe I will make a side note of what to do for the original recipe as well).

The original brownies were an absolute hit and these went over just about as well too!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of your favorite brownie mix
• Water, Oil and Eggs as directed on the back of the box

(Add the extra egg it tells you to to make the brownies cake-like)

• 1 jar marshmallow fluff (you won't use the whole thing, maybe 3/4th)
• 4 oz softened cream cheese (1/2 an 8oz box)
• 1 can cream cheese frosting of your choice (you'll use 1/2 to 3/4 of it)
• 1 pkt of Duncan Hines Frosting Creations Flavor Mix - Mocha

What to Do:

• Make the brownie mix as specified on the back of the box for cake like brownies, line mini cupcake/muffin tins with paper liners.
• Pre-heat oven to 350*, fill paper liners 3/4 of the way full with brownie mix, bake for approx. 15-20 minutes depending on how your oven cooks. Brownies are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place to side to cool. Mix will make approx. 48 mini brownies.
  
• For frosting, take 1/2 of the cream cheese frosting out of the can and place in small bowl. Add in the softened 4oz cream cheese. You can either mix these two together by hand or with an electric mixer. Add more of the frosting if you would like the frosting sweeter, once you have the desired taste you want between the frosting and cream cheese add in the Mocha Flavor Packet. Once this is throughly mixed in you will need to place back in the fridge for a few hours (or freezer if your short on time) to firm back up.
• Once brownies are completely cool, take a knife or super small round cookie/fondant cutter (like this)

 and cut out the centers of each brownie (approx 1/2 way down).

• Place marshmallow fluff (1/2 - 3/4 of the tub/jar) in piping bag with a tip that has a wide, round opening (you can also use a plastic ziploc bag with the corner cut off, or a piping bag with no tip, just the bottom snipped off). Pipe marshmallow filling into hole in each brownie. Keep piping bag with any leftover marshmallow fluff still in it.
  

  
• Once frosting has set back up to a firmer consistency (if you don't wait for it to set up it will literally be running down your brownies), place into piping bag with your desired decorative tip and pipe onto the top of each brownie.
  

  
• With leftover marshmallow fluff, pipe small amounts into center of frosting.
  
• Garnish with sprinkles or sanding sugars of your choice
  

  

So for the original version of these I got a small box of instant vanilla pudding and made it according to the PIE directions on the side. I let that set up in the fridge and then piped it into the center instead of the marshmallow fluff. Then I just put the frosting on top in a prettier design than the ones above (since I wasn't putting the extra dallop on top) and sprinkled the tops with something pretty. Both versions will need to be refrigerated until shortly before serving, which I have found makes the cupcake liners start to pull away from the brownies, but you don't want anyone getting sick! Though I'm all about baking from complete scratch when you can, everyone has times when they need to shorten the process and finish quickly. This recipe allows you to be creative, but you'll get almost everything done within the first hour (except for the piping of the frosting & decorating, which you could do right before serving/taking these to an event). I'm still looking for a good brownie mix to make from scratch, the box mixes just always seem to come out the best!

Anyways, hope you enjoy!