Brownie Ice Cream Cupcakes

You might get diabetes just by reading this post. Just so you know... consider yourself warned.

I am not a huge cake fan. Most birthdays I ask for an ice cream cake. A few years ago my awesome husband even made me an ice cream cake. He's not exactly a dessert diva, so I was super impressed (and it was to-die-for too). I think that's when I realized that everything is better with ice cream.

These little goodies combine the chewy chocolatey goodness of brownie with the cool sweet mess of ice cream, and tie them all together in a little cupcake shape. What I LOVE about these is you can play around with any flavors you like. It is so fun to create different options. Brownies go great with thin mint, cookie dough, banana, cherry chip, peppermint, and a myriad of other flavors of ice cream. (By the way- Walmart is selling Ben & Jerry's Carrot Cake ice cream right now. Go get some now. No really, right now. I'll wait. )

Are you back yet?

Anyways, to make these little treats, line two cupcake tins with foil cupcake liners. (In case you're kind of a moron like me, you're supposed to take the white liner OUT before you use the foil liners. If you fail to do this your brownie will stick horribly to the liner. Personal experience here people!!! No seriously, those things need to come with directions.

Whip up your brownie mix. (Follow the directions on the box). Add a tablespoon of batter to each liner, and bake at 350 for 6-8 min or until brownie is done. Keep the brownie cupcakes in their tins and let them cool to room temperature. Then FREEZE for 30 minutes. While those are freezing, take a half gallon ice cream of your choice out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to soften slightly.

When the brownies are semi-frozen, get out your ice cream and put a scoop of ice cream into each liner on top of the brownie. (Make sure you keep the liners in the cupcake tin or they'll get all crazy on ya. You need the tin to help the cupcake liner keep it's shape.) Smooth down the ice cream in each tin with a tiny spatula or the back of a spoon. These will start to melt like mad, so as soon as you're done put the tin back in the freezer for about an hour.

Remove these from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving to let them soften a little bit. The foil should peel right off. If you remembered to take out the white liners that is.

The ice cream cupcakes pictured are made with chocolate ice cream with raspberries and chopped truffles mixed in. And they are topped with chocolate ganache. You could also top with sprinkles, whipped cream, frosting, maybe even a cherry. Just be creative. You really can't mess these up. Unless you forget to take out the white liners of course.