Pumpkin Black Bottoms

Ingredients:
for the filling:
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
6 oz miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg, at room temperature

for the batter:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
for the filling:
Cream together the pumpkin, cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg until well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips. Set aside.

for the batter:
Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa and baking soda in a large bowl. Add water, oil, vanilla and vinegar. Beat VERY thoroughly. Line mini muffin pans. Fill pans less then 2/3 full with chocolate batter. Do not overfill. Drop approximately 1/2 teaspoon of the filling on top. Bake on the center rack for 20 minutes or until toothpick stuck in the center of a center cupcake comes out clean. Cool briefly in the pans on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Yield: 6 dozen

My thoughts:

Black bottoms are a major holiday tradition in my family. My mom has been making pretty much the same recipe since I was born. She even makes a double or triple batch (216 black bottoms!) and freezes and gives them away. I generally stick to the six dozen which is still a lot. They do freeze so I just stash whatever we don’t eat in the freezer. Having a pan that makes two dozen at a time helps too. Anyway, I realized I hadn’t made a treat for Halloween yet so I thought I’d try making a fall version of our usual black bottom. It turned out so well! Sort of a cross between the pumpkin cheesecake brownie I created a few years ago and our traditional black bottom. Delicious and seasonal.

9 Comments

  1. These look amazing!

  2. I've not had a "black bottom" before…never even heard of that term, but I have made cheesecake brownies and love them. These look so festive. I'm considering whipping a batch up this evening as a little surprise!

  3. Those are adorable! I've never made black bottoms before but these would be fun to try.

  4. Perfect Halloween treat. This is the first time seeing black bottom cupcakes with anything other than plain cream cheese. Sounds good!

  5. Erin @ Pieholes & Plyos

    I love this idea! I have made black bottom cupcakes many times, but never with an ounce of variation. I think the pumpkin version will be very well received at Thanksgiving too. Especially the minis, which I can easily pop in the mouths of people who claim to be too full for dessert.

  6. I made these for a party yesterday and they were a hit!

  7. These are so very good!
    They are super cute, and easy to make.

  8. ooooooo- these look excellent. your earlier recipe for the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies turned out fab and everyone loves them.

  9. I made these yesterday with a gluten-free all-purpose flour and they came out pretty tasty. I used some pumpkin that I roasted from scratch so my tops weren't orange and didn't have a lot of pumpkin flavor. Guess I need to use canned next time. All in all, really good, though!