Brownie Bites with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

Brownies:

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil, allowing excess to lay over the pan’s edges. Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and espresso powder in a medium bowl; set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of almost simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second intervals until chocolate is smooth.

Once chocolate mixture is completely smooth, let cool slightly. Test with your finger—it should be like a warm bath. Once chocolate mixture has cooled slightly, whisk in brown sugar. Whisk in eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with a rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth.

Transfer batter to prepared pan; using a spatula, spread batter into the corners of the pan and smooth the surface. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 25 to 30 minutes. Make sure you don’t over bake your brownies, or they will be more cake-like. Cool on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled completely, lift the brownies out of the pan using the foil overhang. Using a 1” round biscuit cutter, cut rounds out of the brownies. I dipped my 1” round cutter in confectioners’ sugar to help the brownies release easier. You will make about 14 rounds in total. Once rounds are cut, then cut each round in half to create two thinner rounds.

Pumpkin cream cheese filling:

In a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Once smooth, add the cream cheese and whip until smooth. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar to the bowl, and mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

Assembly of brownie bites:

Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip end. When brownies have cooled completely and you have cut the rounds and then cut the rounds into thinner halves, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat half of a brownie half then top with the matching half, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the brownie. Transfer finished brownie bites to an airtight container and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. These will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.