CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE-DOUGH CUPCAKES

 This week I had a craving for something amazing. So my first thought was cookie dough. In all honesty y'all, I was really tempted to make cookie dough, drizzle chocolate over it, grab a spoon and dig in. But then I pictured myself doing that, and thought it seemed pretty silly. :) I wanted to bake something that was going to satisfy my craving and then some! Besides, cupcakes are a much more elegant way to stuff our faces right?

 

So when I searched the internet and came across the idea of putting raw cookie dough (without eggs of course) inside of a chocolate cupcake, I knew this was the cupcake for me! Everything about this thing is amazing!

 

If you have any excess cookie dough after filling your cupcakes. You can just flatten it out a little on the top like this. A little extra cookie dough never hurt anyone right?

 

This is the cookie dough scoop that I used to get a consistent amount of dough for the filling. If you don't have one of these that's okay. You can just use your cute little peepers to eyeball the amount you will need to fill each cupcake.

WARNING: After you have your mini cookies baked, I would recommend throwing away any cookie dough you have left. I made the mistake of keeping it around and found myself eating it right out of the container the next day...

Inspiration:  The cake and filling recipe was adapted from The Cake Blog, and the frosting was adapted from Tidy Mom.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes

 For the Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

•     Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.

•     First combine all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.   Whisk until well combined.

•     Add oil and sour cream and mix at a medium speed.

•     Gradually add water and continue to mix.

•     Add vanilla and eggs and  until combined.

•     Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.

•     Bake for 16 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean.

• After your cupcakes have cooled, hollow out the centers. I used a large icing tip (pictured above) to do this.

 

For the Cookie Dough filling:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

•     In a mixer beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy.

•     Gradually add in flour and sweetened condensed milk and mix until well combined.

•     Stir in chocolate chips.

•      Fill center of cupcakes with Cookie Dough.  I used a cookie dough scoop  to get a consistent amount for each. Then I used my hands to roll the scoop of cookie dough into a cylinder shape and pushed it into each center.
• If you want to decorate your cupcakes with mini cookies, use some of the remaining dough to bake mini cookies at this point.

For the Frosting: 

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp, salt
3 tbsp, milk
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• Beat butter and brown sugar with paddle attachment  until creamy.

• Mix in confectioners' sugar until smooth.

• Beat in flour and salt.

• Mix in milk and vanilla extract until smooth.

Decorating:

• Fill a piping bag fitted with your choice of icing tip and swirl on top of cupcakes. 

• Sprinkle with chocolate chips. 

• Top each cupcake with one of your mini cookies.  

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PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE CUPCAKES

 I'm a little late in posting this because I actually made these around Thanksgiving. I can't even believe how busy I am baking this year! :) I made these pumpkin cupcakes for someone at my son's daycare, and also gave some to my co-workers. They were a big hit! And the best part is, I stumbled upon this recipe by accident and out of desperation!!

So I was up super late one night getting ready to fill this order and I hadn't even started baking yet when I realized I didn't even have any eggs. :( It was way too late to run to the store and this order was due the next morning!! So I had no choice but to figure it out. I grabbed a box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix from my cabinet and this is what I came up with. I am so amazed at how these turned out and I will be using this recipe from now on!

P.S. The topping is crushed graham crackers!! Yummm!!!! 



Enjoy!

Feel free to leave comments and suggestions! :)

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix

1 small can pumpkin pie mix

1/2 cup water 

Baking Instructions:

NOTE: Do not mix cake mix as instructed on box. Only use the ingredients listed above. :)

Fill cupcake liners 

Bake at 350° for  20-25 min 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz unsalted butter (softened)

4 oz cream cheese (softened)

2 cups powdered sugar (sifted)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time with mixer on low speed until creamy. Mix in vanilla extract.

MOCHA FRAPPE CUPCAKES

Three letters for you coffee lovers out there: O.M.G!! Haha! I know one thing, these guys are YUMMY!! 

Opening a box of these babies smells just like walking into Starbucks!! 

And the best part is that they are filled with yummy, gooey chocolate ganache!

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

(Depending on how pressed for time you are, you can either use Devil's Food boxed cake for this, or you can use an extra yummy chocolate cake recipe which I'll list below. I adapted this one from FoodNetwork.com  :) 

•  1/4 pound unsalted, at room temperature.
•  1 cup sugar 
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 16 fluid ounces chocolate syrup 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons ground coffee

For the frosting:

• 1 cup butter, softened 
• 3 teaspoons ground coffee, or espresso 
• 1 pinch salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3+ cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

For the ganache:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

For the cupcakes:

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate, vanilla and coffee. Add the flour and mix until just combined. (Don't overbeat, or the cupcakes will be tough.) 

Using an icecream scoop, fill your cupcake liners just a little over halfway. 

Bake at 325°F for 25-30 min. 

For the frosting:

If you're using instant coffee, mash it in a bowl with the bottom of a spoon until it becomes powdery. 

Beat butter until smooth. Mix in vanilla and coffee. Beat in confectioners' sugar and milk alternating until desired consistency is reached.

For the ganache:

Pour all 8oz of the chocolate chips into a med bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan over med heat. Bring just to a boil (be careful not to boil over) and pour boiled cream over your chocolate. Whisk mixture until smooth. 

Once your cupcakes have cooled, hollow out the centers using an icing tip. Fill cupcakes with slightly cooled ganache using a piping bag. The last step is to ice with the YUMMY frosting!!