Pumpkin Spice Kiss Brownie Bites

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After making some scrumptious caramel filled pumpkin pie spiced snickerdoodles yesterday, I realized something.  As tasty as they were, I wanted chocolate.  They held no interest for me.  And after guiltily eating a few spoonfuls of nutella right out of the container, I decided I really needed to fix my need for a chocolate fix, ASAP.  I had some Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses in my cupboard, waiting for some brilliant excuse to use them and so I started thinking about what they would go well with.  Eventually, after not long, I decided what I really wanted was brownies.  I took off on the search for a simple, yet rich brownie recipe, and came across Smitten Kitchen's My Favorite Brownie Recipe.  They looked simple, I had everything, and I didn't even have to pull out the mixer.  Win!  Since I wanted to use the Kisses, I thought I would portion control them and make individual brownie bites in a mini muffin tin, and this way each one could have a lovely Kiss center.  In 45 minutes start to finish, I was done, and enjoying rich, chocolately brownies that had a wonderful center that tasted like pumpkin pie cheesecake.  Win, win, win.

Batter in the mini muffin tins with the inverted Kisses before baking.

Pumpkin Spice Kiss Brownie Bites
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's My Favorite Brownies)

Makes approx. 40 brownie bites

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 40 Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two mini muffin tin pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium, microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and chocolate together, in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate and butter are melted  and combined.
3. Whisk in the sugar, and then the eggs, one at a time.  Add vanilla and salt and whisk well to combine.
4. Stir in flour with a spatula until combined.
5. Using a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop, place a level scoop full of batter into each muffin tin cup.  Press a Hershey's Kiss, pointed side down, into the center of each scoop of batter.
6. Bake for 14-17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the inner most brownie batter comes out with just a few crumbs, if any.
7. Let cool in the pan for several minutes and then carefully use a knife to pop each brownie bite out of the pan.