Friday, August 17, 2012

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Everyone loves cookie dough.  That's just a fact.  I made a slightly different version of these at the beginning of summer which I thought were alright. Then I added a filling and it made a huge difference.  My boyfriend, Jake, is somewhat obsessed with them and has been begging me to make them again... so here they are! 



I used these adorable little polka-dot cupcake liners that I got from this store called Francesca's.  It's more like a boutiquey kinda of feel clothing store but they have knick-knacks like these! 

In some of the other cookie dough cupcake recipes I saw, you can make little mini chocolate chip cookies and stick them in the top of the cupcakes (sort of like a garnish).  But, I ran out of time so I left them out and they were still awesome! 

Also one more tip is to not do it all in one sitting.  I made the cake portion of the cupcakes one night, and the next morning/afternoon I made the filling and the frosting.  It's always more fun when you aren't stressed out.  I only made 12 cupcakes but I will give you the recipe for 24 because that is the standard amount.  I made some very slight changes here and there but I need to give credit to Annie's Eats blog because it was my inspiration for this recipe!

Ingredients:

This recipe will make about 24 cupcakes.

For the cupcakes: 
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1.5 cups brown sugar (packed)
4 eggs
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour 
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (if using salted butter, just use a small pinch)
1 cup milk 
2 tsp. vanilla

For the cookie dough filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk 
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips

For the cookie dough frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/3 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla

For garnish:
Mini chocolate chips (as many or as little as you prefer)


Directions:

For the cupcakes: 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcakes pans (each with 12 cupcake liners).  
In a mixer with the paddle attachment combine butter and brown sugar and beat on medium speed until it is smooth (3ish minutes).  
Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides as needed to make sure it is being combined well.
In a separate medium-sized bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, alternating with the milk, on low-medium speed.  
Mix in the vanilla, and last but definitely not least fold in the chocolate chips with a spoon or spatula.
Divide batter evenly into the cupcake liners and bake for about 18-20 minutes.  After removing them from the oven let them sit in the pans for a few minutes before taking them out to cool completely.  


For the cookie dough filling:
In a mixer with the paddle attachment combine butter and light brown sugar and beat on medium speed until smooth (1-2 minutes).  
Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla until completely mixed in.  
Stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon or spatula. 
I found that my filling was already very thick when I finished and ready to be piped right away but if you think yours needs to be refrigerated first, go for it.  Just make sure you don't leave it in for too long because it will become too thick if you do. 


For the cookie dough frosting: 
In a mixer with the paddle attachment combine butter and light brown sugar and beat on medium speed until smooth (1-2 minutes).  
Mix in the powdered sugar slowly until well-combined and smooth.  
Mix in the flour and salt. 
Mix in the vanilla and milk until creamy.

Assembly:

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled off the first step is to cut out a center section of the cupcake (cone-shaped) with a paring knife.


Next, place the cookie dough filling in a ziploc bag and cut a 1/2 inch hole in the corner, which will be used to pipe the filling. 


Fill the inside of the cupcake almost all the way but make sure to leave room for the top.


Take the cone-shaped cake that you took out of the center of the cupcake and cut off the bottom because there will not be enough room for the whole thing to fit back in (save the extra cake- I will give you an idea for it at the bottom of this post).



Place the top back on the cupcake.  It does not have to be perfect because you are putting frosting over it anyways! 


Frost the cupcakes in any way that you desire (I just piped mine on with a simple wide Wilton attachment).


Add as many or as little mini chocolate chips as you wish! 


Here's a midsection view of the filled cupcake (keep in mind this one was very soft because it had been sitting out for awhile in a tubberware instead of in the fridge but still delicious).  


Extra Cake: 

As promised, I said that I would give you an idea for the extra cake bits... Cake pops! (By the way the extra cake will only make about 5 or 6 cake pops).  If you have any frosting laying around you can crumble up your extra cake, add about a tsp of frosting to it, mix it thoroughly, and roll them into little balls.  You will need to melt some candy coating in the microwave as well.  Dip the top of the cake pop sticks into the candy coating and stick halfway into the cake balls (which should be on some sort of plate).  Freeze them for about 3 minutes.  Once the candy coating has become sturdy you can dip your whole cake pop into the candy coating, making sure to completely cover it.  Decorate however you want!  I used some pearl candy sprinkles.  Here is a youtube tutorial that can walk you through it more thoroughly if you are interested: Cake Pops Tutorial.


Hope you are all having a wonderful end of summer and I hope you decide to try out these cupcakes and/or cake pops! Happy baking! 

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