The take home chef shares his brownie cupcake recipe

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Brownie Cupcakes
From: Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: recipes to put you in my favorite mood

Makes 8

Cupcakes
6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate (60% to 70% cacao), chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Lyle's Golden syrup or light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flower
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/3 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
4 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate (60% to 70% cacao), chopped

To make the cupcakes:
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard cupcake tin with 8 paper cupcake liners. Stir the chocolate and butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat until they melt and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the syrup and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Using and electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and light. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the flower and baking powder and stir just until blended; then stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling them completely. Back for about 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes puff and crack on top and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out with fudgy crumbs attached. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

To frost the cupcakes:
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it is light and smooth. Beat in the syrup. Place the chocolate in another bowl and set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat until blended and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is well blended. Spread the frosting generously over the cooled cupcakes. Garnish each one with a fresh strawberry and serve.