Healthier caramel brownie cupcakes are dense and chocolate-y, and house a little surprise inside, caramel! Store bought caramels make for a quick filling. This is a brownie cupcake family and friends won’t be able to get enough of.
For those of you who use Facebook on a daily basis, even just to scroll through for two or three minutes {every hour ??}, don’t you just love seeing those ‘Facebook Memories’ from one year ago today? Well, last year at this time it was 63° and we were outside with no coats, spring clothing and enjoying the fleeting weather.
Today, I sit inside with rain and cooler temperatures looming. On those days, I find it best to hole myself up in the kitchen and start baking up a storm. These healthier caramel brownie cupcakes were just the thing to satisfy my baking mood as well. A little dark, a little salty, a little sweet.
Dark and stormy caramel brownies
There’s just something about the combination of chocolate and caramel that I think gets to everyone, especially me. I had this bag of store-bought caramels hiding out in the pantry that needed a home. What better way to utilize them than in a brownie cupcake? Okay, besides just eating the entire bag.
My first thought was to bake up a batch of dark chocolate brownies and cover them with the caramels. But the thought of trying to slice through the caramel on top of the brownies sent my mind into a sticky spin. So instead, little caramel brownie cupcake surprises seemed like the much better option.
The healthier option
Since store bought caramels aren’t exactly the healthiest option on the shelf, I wanted to counteract them with a healthy brownie. I started first with a sweet potato, taking a cue from my sweet potato apple muffins. This makes for a super moist brownie cupcake. Once that is nice and soft it’s tossed in a blender with some avocado, which is the perfect replacement for butter. Then some almond milk for additional moisture, and applesauce in place of oil.
All of this is then mixed in to whole wheat flour for some added nutrients and the best part, melted dark chocolate! This batter comes together so quickly, you won’t believe that you’ve just made a healthy chocolate brownie batter in under 20 minutes.
The not-so-healthy option
While this brownie batter is healthy, we’re shoving a not-so-healthy piece of caramel in the center of the brownie. Layer the brownie batter in the bottom of the cupcake liner, it doesn’t have to be perfectly flat. Shove a piece of caramel in the center. This will help flatten out the brownie batter. Then top with additional batter and bake.
What you’re left with is an ooey-gooey caramel brownie. Once bitten into, the caramel oozes out the center, creating an amazing combination of dark chocolate and sweet and salty caramel. I dusted mine with a little powdered sugar because taste testing revealed that frosting would have been too much. But if you want to go over the top, feel free to add a swipe of frosting on top!
- 1 medium sweet potato {about ½ cup flesh}
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup organic raw cane sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ medium avocado
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips, divided
- 17 store-bought caramels
- Organic powdered sugar optional
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Preheat oven to 350°F and line two {12 cup} muffin tin with 17 cupcake liners.
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Pierce the outside of the sweet potato and microwave for about 10 minutes, until soft to the touch. Set aside to cool.
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Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
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Scoop out the flesh of the sweet potato and place in the jar of a blender. Add the avocado, applesauce, milk, vanilla and eggs. Blend on low speed until smooth.
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Melt ¾ cup of the chocolate chips and add to the flour mixture. Add the sweet potato mixture and stir until combined. Fold in the remaining ¾ cup chocolate chips.
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Fill each cupcake liner with the batter, about ½ way up. Add one caramel and cover with the remaining batter.
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Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when touched. Place on a wire rack to cool.
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Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.
