Mini Brownie Cones

Mini Brownie Cones

After baking hiatus of almost 5 months, I dragged myself back into the kitchen for a friend's baby shower party.

From past experiences, whenever I took a long break from baking, the first batch always goes straight into the bin. Every single time....ARRGGHH >__<

The plan was to make 3 different cakes and lo and behold, one went straight into the bin T__T

That leaves me with 2 that were presentable : mini brownie cones and cheese cake sticks (recipe to follow on future post).

Propped straight up ; Lying down in rows to be transported

The idea is courtesy of Bakerella who is responsible for the very cute cupcake pops and cones that she always make and post on her blog. Even better, her baking book has just been published and is available to purchase now !! I must get my hand on a copy soon :)

To make cupcake pops, you'd need to bake a cake, make some buttercream / cream cheese icing, mash them together, form a ball and stick it on a lollipop stick or stuff it into an ice cream cone.

But since I was pressed for time, I thought I'll use a brownie recipe instead. Because brownies are sort of undercooked, it can be formed into balls just on its own. 

Blue Candy Melts ; Candy Melts, Lindt Chocolate, Mini Cones

Mini Brownie Cones
(Makes 35mini cones)

Brownies Ingredients (recipe from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess):
125g   Lindt Couverture Picolli Bittersweet (55% Cocoa) Chocolate
125g   Unsalted Butter, softened
2         Eggs, Large
150g   Caster Sugar
1tsp    Vanilla Extract
75g     Plain Flour
200g   Cream Cheese, cold
pinch of salt

How To :

- Preheaat the oven to 180 C

- Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Once melted, set aside to cool slightly.

- Place eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat to mix.

- Beat in the egg mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture, mix well.

- Add in the flour and pinch of salt and beat until smooth.

- Pour the mixture into a square or round 23cm tin.

- Stud in the cream cheese into the brownie mixture. I just pinched them into bits, or if you are real neat, cut them into small cubes and scatter them around.

- Baked until the top is dry and pale, but the center should still be sticky.

- Cool completely before forming them into small balls.

Finishing Ingredients :

Mini Waffle Ice Cream Cones (available from Essential Ingredients)

Wilton Candy Melts 

Vegetable Oil

100's & 1000's

- Push in the brownie balls into the mini cones, make sure that it won't pop out when it's inverted. You don't have to push it all the way in, as long as it's wedged securely it's fine.

- Melt the Wilton Candy Melts as per instruction on the package. I found it a bit tricky to use as it burns fairly quickly ( even over a bain marie). Add in vegetable oil, a little at a time, if the candy melt looked dry and thick. Add as much as required, you want a glossy, slightly thick consistency, like melted chocolate.

- Dip in the brownie cones into the melted candies. 

- Sprinkle the 100's & 1000's (or any other sprinkles) onto the cone - do it straight after dipping as the candy melt will set within minutes. 

- Store them at room temperature, DO NOT store in the fridge as the candy will melt. 

Candy melts are not easy to found here in Sydney, I found them by chance at Spotlight - yes, Spotlight the fabric store :) Sometimes I see them up for sale in eBay too.

You can use chocolates instead if you can't get your hand on the candy melts, don't make them on hot days though or you'll have melting chocolate brownie cones :P

The benefit of the candy melts over chocolate is that it sets into a crisp candy shell, which means much easier to transport them than the chocolate ones.

The downside ? They are extremely sweet, so I had to cut back on the sugar in the brownies to compensate for the sweetness.

Cones @ The Shower ; Chomped !

They are very easy to make and they looked so cute !!

I got the gold paint palette stand to display the cones at the party, they come in handy as well when you need somewhere to prop the cones while waiting for the shell to dry.

They are made from sturdy paper so they are re-usable, I got them from Essential Ingredients too.

Let your imagination run wild while decorating them and have loads of fun :)