Brownie Bowls for Ice Cream

Celebrate one sweet birthday with these Brownie Bowls for Ice Cream. No special equipment needed – they’re made in a cupcake pan!

Last Saturday was my daughter Vida’s first birthday. Time really does fly as fast as everybody says it does. It certainly seems like it was just yesterday that I was announcing her birth. It’s been a year of watching her grow like a weed, listening to her sweet baby giggle, and (thankfully!) quite a bit of sleep.

I know a lot of people say that a first birthday party is really about the parents. About them surviving that first year. Truthfully, I don’t feel like we’ve had to “survive” at all.

We’ll be the first to tell you that we completely lucked out – V is a happy-go-lucky kid who is rarely upset except when we try to feed her bananas. So this first birthday party was really about celebrating how awesome the past year has been.

However, if I made one small gesture of celebrating Jeff and I alongside our daughter, it was making two birthday desserts – one for her and one for us. Vida’s favorite food so far seems to be carrots, so we made her a carrot cake (she delicately ate a few fingers of frosting and called it good).

I love carrot cake and all, but why settle for just cake? My favorite desserts will ALWAYS be brownies and ice cream. Preferably together.

I rarely make brownies (or chocolate brownie pie) because if they’re in the house, I’ll just eat them all in a shockingly short period of time. But a first birthday is time to really celebrate, so these Brownie Bowls for Ice Cream were created.

Brownie Bowls for Ice Cream are the perfect portion:

Not only do these Brownie Bowls for Ice Cream taste delicious, but I like how they’re the perfect portion. Particularly for small children. The brownies are about half the size of a cupcake, and you fill them with one small scoop of ice cream. It’s great for a kid’s birthday party, because the kids can have a little dessert, but not be completely hopped up on sugar for the rest of the day.

Make the bowls using a One Bowl Brownie Recipe:

That’s right – you can make 10 brownie bowls while only getting 1 mixing bowl dirty! I used a very basic brownie batter recipe to create these bowls. Simply start with melted butter, and then stir in sugar and cocoa powder until they dissolve into the butter.

Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, and then add the flour and salt. Fold in mini chocolate chips at the end, and you’re ready to bake!

How To Make Brownie Bowls with Cupcake Pans

You’ll need a 12-cup muffin or cupcake pan for this recipe, as you’ll be making 10 brownie bowls. I found that spraying the muffin pan liberally with nonstick cooking or baking spray was crucial to being able to remove the brownies easily once they were done baking.

A medium cookie scoop helped me divide the brownie batter evenly between 10 cups. I started out by adding a scoop to each cup, and then gradually topped off each cup with the remaining batter until they were all pretty evenly filled.

Top with Ice Cream and Sprinkles!

Life’s special moments are always a little sweeter with Hudsonville Ice Cream. This Michigan-based creamery has been perfecting their ice cream for more than 90 years. With over 50 flavors to choose from, it was admittedly a little hard to choose a flavor to put in my brownie bowls.

But Vida’s big, happy personality reminds me of bright colors. She’s not a pastel girl. She’s a bright little kid with a cheerful attitude. And I thought Hudsonville’s Blue Moon ice cream was the perfect scoop to share with family to celebrate her one year on Earth. It worked great with these brownie cups, and is also amazing served alongside chocolate or vanilla birthday cake.

What is Blue Moon Ice Cream?

GREAT QUESTION. If you’re not from the Midwest, Blue Moon ice cream might be quite a mystery to you. In fact, even though it’s a Midwest original, it’s kind of a mystery to everybody here, too! As the ice cream carton states, it has a “one-of-a-kind flavor.” But what IS that flavor exactly?

If you ask me, I think it tastes a lot like almond extract with a bit of fruitiness as well. The exact recipe is a mystery to most of us, and different ice cream makers have slightly different versions. Jeff considers himself a Blue Moon aficionado, and he says Hudsonville’s is the best.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hudsonville Ice Cream. Sponsored posts help me pay for the costs associated with this blog (groceries…lots of groceries), and help support me as I pursue a career in recipe development and food photography. All opinions are 100% my own.