My hope is the name "Are you f-ing kidding me?' frosted brownies" paints an accurate depiction of the most amazing chocolate buttercream-topped fudgy deliciousness one could ever imagine. And while my name for this dessert may appear to be vulgar, since "death by chocolate" and "better than (fill in the blank)" were already taken, that's what seemed most appropriate.

This dessert was born from my obnoxious desire to be known in my circle of friends as the reigning goddess of all things baked goods. This desire is sort of a sister trait to my hideous need to dominate all gingerbread house decorating competitions. But I'll save that for a more festively appropriate time of year. 

Last weekend we had friends coming over for a somewhat casual dinner at our house and I wanted to whip up a special dessert using only ingredients I had on hand. With that parameter in mind, I flexed my creative muscles (and ransacked my pantry) to come up with a dessert combination that's one part "semi-homemade," and two parts "over the top." 

As you may have deduced from previous recipes like the baked brie bites and pea soup shooters, I love making things in individual serving sizes. I think they work well when entertaining, and lend themselves to a more sophisticated presentation. 

Though one of my pet peeves of pan made brownies is that I always fail to create neatly cut brownies like the ones you see in the store or on Barefoot Contessa. Therefore, I got to thinking...why can't I bake brownies in cupcake tins?

Trying out this idea, I used a high quality boxed brownie mix as my base. (My off the shelf brownie mix of choice is Ghirardelli brand, found at most grocery stores, Target, and even Amazon.) I followed the instructions and, using a 12 cup muffin tin, portioned out the batter accordingly. I reduced the bake time to account for the smaller sizes and in no time had the base for my dessert.

After I baked the brownies and removed them from their tins I felt they were looking a little naked. Since I didn't have vanilla bean ice cream in the freezer (an automatic complement to a super chocolaty brownie), my mind strayed to other options. Raspberry glaze? Maybe. Frosting of some kind? Hmm, interesting. That buttercream I recently made for the baby shower cupcakes was pretty amazing. Why not try to create my own chocolate buttercream? After confirming I had exactly one stick of butter in my refrigerator as well as the other necessary ingredients, I got to work.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk, heavy cream, or half and half (I used half and half)

Note: This is a half sized quantity for 12 brownies. For a cake or 24 cupcakes, I'd recommend doubling the ingredients above.

Directions

Using an electric mixer, cream butter on medium speed until smooth. The real key here is to use room temperature butter. You can cheat and microwave to soften it (maybe 8-10 seconds, max), but it's much better to let it soften on it's own. Trust me here. I've been around the butter softening block.

Slowly sift powdered sugar into the mixing bowl, combining with butter at low speed. As it combines the butter and sugar mixture will begin form somewhat fluffy concoction.

Now comes the seriously important part to this recipe...the cocoa! Add the cocoa as you did with the powdered sugar, slowly mixing it into your bowl. 

As the cocoa mixes in, you'll see the mixture turn into something that looks...well...um...slightly less than appetizing. Don't worry, you're doing it right.

Once fully combined, scrape down sides and add the salt, vanilla, and cream. Mix again at medium speed until well combined.

After a few more minutes of mixing you will see your frosting ingredients transform into a fluffy and delicious topper that can make just about any dessert more delicious. Heck, don't just stop at desserts, add it to regular food too, can't hurt, it's chocolate frosting!

The main thing you're looking for at this stage is the desired consistency. If it doesn't look quite right to you, you can either thin out the frosting with an additional tablespoon of cream, or you can easily thicken it by adding more sugar. Just keep working with it until it looks the way you want it to.

At this stage I always taste the frosting and use the excuse that I'm "trying to determine if more salt needs to be added." It's a legitimate excuse since you don't want it to taste salty, but a small amount really brings the other flavors to life. In our case, we didn't need to add any salt, but I (and Alex) "tested" it a few times just to be sure.

In addition to the simple process of combining ingredients in the right order to make really good stuff, I've also recently come to terms with the value of using "really good ingredients." As I previously mentioned, I used to roll my eyes every time Ina Garten would say "really good vanilla" on an episode of Barefoot Contessa, and as much as it pains me to admit it, she's right. (Though I still roll my eyes every time Jeffrey appears.)

I recently received a gourmet baking supplies basket as a gift, and between the "really good vanilla" and the "I think I died and went to heaven cocoa powder," my heart has nearly stopped beating. A reader previously shared a tip to purchase better cocoa, but since my Hershey's hadn't yet run out, I hadn't ventured into this new territory. All I can say is, "Where have these ingredients been all my life?!?" I'm a true convert, and although they're more expensive than the familiar labels of my childhood, I will never go back.

Now that I've climbed off my baking soap box, I can tell you more about how I placed the buttercream into a disposable icing bag complete with my favorite Wilton tip. 

I added a swirl to the top of each brownie and was thrilled with not only how they looked, but how delicious the buttercream tasted. 

But why stop there? Alex has a tendency to be a bit of a baking house-elf. Without my knowledge he'll get a hankering for some cookie dough and whip up a batch of some type of cookie to satisfy his craving. As luck would have it, he just happened to have whipped up a batch of homemade peanut butter cookies a few days prior, and these beautiful chocolate bombs of buttercream were just calling out for a little something extra. So I sliced each cookie in half...

...and used the little half moons to adorn the top of the brownies. Now we were in business.

The night of our dinner party the four of us greedily devoured the chocolate decadence, and if I remember correctly, between bites of the euphoric coma-inducing chocolate, at least two of us coined the name of these desserts by uttering the phrase, "Are you f-ing kidding me?" I'm relatively sure the 'f' stands for frosting. 

Do you have a favorite dessert that you like to make or eat? Perhaps you've experimented with making a traditional dessert in an unexpected flavor, shape, or size? I'd love to hear about your top picks, as I'm always interested in finding new and different ways to make dessert the course of the meal that really shines.