Cat Cora's Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

Need we say more? Get the recipe and chow down already.

Dec. 31, 2008 — -- New Years celebrations are not only about large, sparkly balls dropping and champagne toasts -- to throw a truly great New Years party you're going to need some good food.

Luckily, celebrated chef Cat Cora is here to share some delicious recipes to make the very end of 2008 a finish to remember. Check out her recipe for chocolate brownie cupcakes below and click here for her pork skewers with feta-mint tzatziki below or here for her scrumptious corn cakes with ancho sour cream.

Click here for more meal ideas from "GMA's" recipe index.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

Yield: 36 mini-sized cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons cake flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ cup sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

½ cup shelled walnuts

1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin pans with paper cupcake liners.

Place the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler. (If you don't have a double boiler, use a wide stainless steel bowl that sits snugly over a saucepan one-third full of water.) The water beneath the bowl should be hot but not boiling. Stir the chocolate every minute or so until it's melted. As soon as the chocolate is melted, remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a piece of waxed paper; set aside.

With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand-up mixer, thoroughly cream the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl (just to monitor egg shells), and then add them to the mixture one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add the cooled chocolate and blend thoroughly. Add the sifted dry ingredients a little at a time so they don't fly up; beat at medium speed after each addition and after adding the last of the flour mixture, beat until smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla extract.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups and bake for about 15 to 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Transfer the cupcakes to a rack and allow them to cool completely before icing (below).

Basic: Seven-Minute Frosting

Yield: 1 quart of frosting

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup water

1 tablespoon white corn syrup

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

In the top bowl of a double boiler off the heat, combine all the ingredients except the vanilla. Beat the mixture for about 1 minute to mix thoroughly. Rest the bowl over simmering water over medium heat and whisk constantly for 7 minutes, or until frosting shows stiff peaks and has tripled in volume. Lift the pan off the water and whisk vigorously until frosting has cooled and is thick and glossy.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

Add ½ cup of smooth peanut butter to the finished frosting. This stays at its fluffiest if you first whisk together the peanut butter and about a cup of frosting. Then fold in the rest of the frosting gently with a rubber spatula.

Recipe courtesy Cat Cora