27 Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

A friend of mine requested cupcakes for her son's birthday (in addition to a regular sized cake she asked me to bake). So, since these cupcakes were on my poll and I needed something kid friendly to bake, these were the natural choice.

The only thing I had to buy to make these cupcakes were the pre-made cookie dough. I've read a lot of recipes where you need to freeze the cookie dough first. Although for this particular recipe, you don't have to. The recipe calls for a tube of cookie dough. I bought the ready-to-bake dough that's already cut into little squares. The stuff that you just pull apart and place onto a cookie sheet and just throw into the oven. The pull apart stuff worked just fine, if not better, but the option is up to you.

This recipe was awesome. It had everything that my ideal chocolate cake recipe had: sour cream, coffee and pudding. Instead of using the instant coffee, I just used 1/2 of coffee we had left over from the morning. You could tell that the pudding was mixed in. The cake batter looked really pudding-y. I would not filling these as much as the recipe said, because most of mine baked over. If you divide the batter between only 24 cupcakes, they're already pretty full and then you're supposed to add a ball of cookie dough into that, they end up super full. I made 27 cupcakes, but you could probably manage 2 more cupcakes.

 

Since I used the pull apart cookie dough, it turned out pretty simple. I cut one square of dough in half, then I rolled it in between my hands into a ball. I just dropped it into the middle of the cupcake batter and used a spoon to cover it up completely and voila! That was that. I put them into the oven to bake. It took a little longer than the minimum 18 minutes, but if you make your cupcakes a little less full, it might just be enough time.

Oh No! The Cupcakes Baked Over!!

 

After this, I rolled the remaining cookie dough into little cookies. The recipe warns to stick the cookies on top before the icing hardens so I figured this would be the next appropriate step. It takes just as long to bake little cookies as it does big cookies... go figure.

Mini Cookies All Ready

I didn't particularly care for this icing. I followed the directions and it was a huge powdered sugar mess. And no matter what I did, it stayed super thick. I was afraid that it would be difficult to pipe. It was easier than I anticipated, but not how I would normally like my icing. After all that work, it just tasted like a normal butter cream icing. The cream cheese gets lost in all the powdered sugar and butter. Next time I would just stick with mixing the fail safe butter cream (2 sticks of butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, a capful of vanilla, and hot water to thin it out).

Weird Icing

These cupcakes were awesome. Because the chocolate cake had all the secret-y ingredients that I love, it was super moist. The cookie dough settled to the bottom and was a crunchy surprise after sinking your teeth through the soft cupcake. The icing went well with the cupcakes, not necessarily worth all the work though. And the tiny cookie on top of everything was adorable and an extra little treat. This cupcake was two very tasty desserts all kept together in a simple, white paper cupcake liner.

Chocolate Chip Cupcake Ingredients
1 package Devil's food cake mix
1 package chocolate pudding mix
1 c sour cream
1 c vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp instant espresso
1/2 c warm water

How to
1. Preheat 350. Line muffin tine with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and vanilla in a small bowl. Combine espresso granules and warm water, stirring until dissolved. Add to cake batter and stir until fully incorporated.
3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
4. Measure .4 oz balls of cookie dough (about 1 tsp) and drop a ball of dough into each cupcakes. Be sure to use a spoon to completely cover the ball with batter.
5. Bake in oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Remove cupcake from muffin tin and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

Frosting Ingredients
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 pounds powdered sugar
4-6 c heavy cream or milk

How to
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Slowly add in sugar and continue until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low until moistened. Add on additional 1-3 tablespoon of heavy cream or milk until you reach desired consistency. eat at high until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

For the Garnish
1. Garnish your cupcakes with mini chocolate chips and a mini cookie.
2. To make mini cookies, measure out 24 .4 oz (about 1 tsp) balls of dough and baked them according to the package direction (about 8-10 minutes). Allow mini cookies to cool completely before adding them to the cupcakes.

**NOTES**

• If you are choosing to garnish cupcakes, make sure you do this immediately after you frost your cupcakes. Once the top layer of butter cream hardens, nothing will stick to the frosting.
• If you do not have instant espresso powder, you can simply omit it from the recipe. You can typically find this in the coffee aisle of most supermarkets

from mybakingaddiction.com

27 Pumpkin and Spiced Rum Cupcakes

'Tis the season for baking, baking, and more baking. For the past few years, my mom has been baking and selling trays of baked goods and every year at Christmas time the orders pour in. She gets a bunch of cookie orders for this one, some variety trays for that one, and cupcakes for someone else. My mom asked me for some help with some cupcakes, telling me that I'd be able to put them on my blog as incentive. I'm not really sure who they're for or what the occasion is, but I'll take the opportunity to bake cupcakes.

Luckily for me, my mom has made these before and also did all her shopping for her baking marathon so everything was already here to whip these cupcakes together. If you need to go out and buy some spiced rum because you don't have any on hand, don't spend the money on buying good booze if it's only for cupcakes. The recipe suggests using Cruzan 9. If you're going to drink it, then go ahead and spend the extra bucks on something nice for yourself, but otherwise, save a little money and buy whatever is cheap. Now, my mom needed 2 dozen and the recipe only make 12 cupcakes, so I obviously just doubled all the amounts.

After I had mixed the ingredients as the recipe instructed me, I realized a much easier way to do it all. So to save you the hassle, I'll give you the foresight. First, I would mix the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl to the stand mixer. Obviously, don't use the beater to mix them. I normally use a fork. Next, I would mix the pumpkin and other wet ingredients in a large liquid measuring cup. Then, I put just a little of the wet ingredients and turned the mixer on low just so the dry ingredients didn't fly everywhere. Then, I added the rest.

All the Wet Ingredients
and my Bunny Whisk!

I get a little weary when the recipe says to fill the cupcakes 3/4 full. I'm always afraid that they'll bake over. Only one did really bad and 2 baked over just a little. But overall, they all turned out nice.

Since I made the icing a few days ago, it was a breeze this time around. For a double batch it made a ton of icing. I might make a batch and a half next time I need to make that much.

These cupcakes would be really good for around Thanksgiving time. The rum flavor isn't too strong, so you could bring them to share with all your family at all kinds of holiday events. The cake is moist because of the pumpkin in it and the cinnamon in the icing with the cinnamon in the cupcakes is just right. It isn't overwhelming at all. The taste of these cupcakes will evoke memories of pumpkin pie and family get-togethers from the past and maybe become a tradition.

Pumpkin and Spiced Rum Cupcakes Ingredients

1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 c canola oil
1/4 c spiced rum

Cupcake How to

All the Dry Ingredients

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir to combine.
2. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk pumpkin, eggs, canola oil, and rum.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir just until combined. 
4. Spoon batter into greased muffin tin. (You'll fill each cup a slid 3/4 of the way full to make 12 cupcakes.)
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese
1/4 c butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Frosting How to

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. beating well after each addition. Fold in vanilla and cinnamon with last 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
3. Beat until smooth.
**Refrigerate any leftover frosting

20 Gingerbread Cupcakes

 

A few things went into the decision to make these cupcakes. First, it's some one's birthday again! Go figure. A certain manager who has recently been harping about how I haven't baked him cupcakes in ages. Second, the Christmas season is upon us and what could be more fitting than gingerbread. I remember the first time I had gingerbread. I was visiting my grandmother's house, after literally travelling over the river (well... stream) and through the woods, to get to her house. It was after Christmas, but she offered my sister and I some gingerbread. We were sitting in the living room in her old, old farmhouse, in the squishiest chairs and my grandma brought us each a pretty plate with a square piece of gingerbread on it with a blob of Cool Whip on top. It was so delicious. If Christmas had a taste, that's exactly what it would taste like. That was easily over 10 years ago but it's crazy how you remember stuff like that. That was my first and last experience with gingerbread, until I picked out a recipe from the vast expanses of the Internet to make it myself.

Since my mom doesn't like gingerbread, I had to pick up a few things for these cupcakes. I grabbed some ground ginger and allspice. And since it's the holidays, there was a big display with all kinds of baking essentials for Christmas baking. I picked up everything in one spot.

As soon as I started this recipe, you could smell Christmas. I opened up the new spices and it put me back in my grandma's living room. It came together really easily, like all cupcakes normally do. The allspice, the ginger, and the molasses, coming together perfectly to make perfect cupcakes. For the boiling water, I just put a mug of water into the microwave for 2 minutes until it boiled and added it to the baking soda in a 2 cup measuring cup. I didn't fill them up the 3/4 of  the way full because the recipe said that it only made 18 cupcakes, and since I'm bringing them to work on a Saturday night, I need a few more than that. If you do though, they come out so pretty. Perfectly domed and perfectly beautiful.

Remember to Leave an Empty
Space to Make It Easier to
Pull the Cupcake Tins Out.

For the icing, I borrowed a recipe from these pumpkin spice cupcakes that my mom had made. When I got the request for the cupcakes, the only specific thing about the request was cream cheese icing.  As soon as I had my heart set on making gingerbread cupcakes, this icing immediately came to mind. I paged through my mom's one recipe binder, searching for these pumpkin cupcakes. I looked and looked and insisted to her that I thoroughly searched every page. I handed her the book and went back into the kitchen. When she called me back into the living room and told me that she found the recipe, she told me then that it was not in the binder like she originally told me, it was on the end table. Thanks for all the help Mom. When all was said and done, I had the perfect amount of icing to top each cupcake off with a big blob.

These cupcakes were surely a hit! Just a few minutes after the initial cupcake feeding frenzy ensued, all of them were gone. I'd say 3 minutes max.

These turned out exactly how I wanted them to. Just as I remember having that first nibble of gingerbread at Grandma's house. The cupcakes were just what I want my cupcakes to be like: not too dense and not too airy. The cinnamon in the icing complimented the spices in the cupcakes. It all came together in a combination that I hope would make my grandmother proud. Maybe I'll leave a few of these out for Santa this Christmas instead of cookies.

Gingerbread Cupcake Ingredients

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c butter
1/4 c canola oil
1 c sugar
1/2 c dark molasses
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda

Gingerbread Cupcake How to

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil, and sugar until pale tallow and fluffy. Beat in eggs and molasses until smooth.
4. Put the baking soda into a small bowl or liquid measuring cup (you'll need extra room- it bubbles up), and add 3/4 c boiling water
5. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, beating on low speed just until blended. Add half the water mixture in the same way, then another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the water mixture, and the rest of the dry ingredients, blending just until combined.
6. Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 25 minutes or until tops are springy to the touch.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese
1/4 c butter
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing How to

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 c at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Fold in vanilla and cinnamon with last 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
4. Beat until smooth.

28 Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

I'm such a slacker as a blogger and I apologize. Since it's too early for New Year's resolutions just yet, I'm making it my December resolution to get back in the swing of things and start baking all the time like I used to. And surprise! It's taken a birthday of a coworker to twist my arm back into making cupcakes. I'm finally getting to use the baking appropriate things that I got for my birthday about a month ago. Thanks Mom for my apron covered in cupcakes... how perfect! Anyway... enough about me, let's get to the cupcakes.

Everything was easy to get for these cupcakes. You can get cheap tequila and margarita mix at the liquor store. Not hard to find at all. Now I did sort of drop the ball when it came to a few other ingredients. I forgot to get a lime, so there wasn't any lime zest in my cupcakes. No big deal really. And I used strawberry jelly instead of preserves, until I ran out of that and then I got the rest of the remaining 1/2 tablespoon out of the strawberry ice cream topping. My problem was that I had already been to the grocery store in town once that morning. I already feel like I live there so I wasn't running back.

So despite my lack of preparation, I feel like it all came together alright. The batter looked gross and curdled just like the recipe warned. After I had all the ingredients mixed in, it was still a little clumpy, but I still went on. I filled the liners up the standard 2/3 full. The recipe says to divide it between 24 cupcakes, that would work. I'm just always nervous that they'll bake over. I had a few really full ones, and they ended up beautifully domed and perfect. So don't be afraid to fill them up! You'll have very pretty cupcakes. I kept them in for the full 20 minutes. They looked a little dense, but knowing that I'd be pouring glaze all over them, I figured it would be okay.

I'm going to start talking about the glaze by mentioning that you shouldn't ignore all the red flags when you don't have everything. I had to run to the store to make the glaze even though I fought it earlier when I needed stuff. I had to run to the store so I could get more strawberry preserves and powdered sugar (a staple of my kitchen). Oh well. When I finally started making the glaze, I added the powdered sugar to the liquids in a measuring cup, so I could just pour the glaze over the cupcakes instead of spooning it on. I left the cupcakes in the pans to add the glaze just in case the paper liners wouldn't hold it. I didn't really have a problem, but I would recommend doing it that way just to be safe. I used a chop stick to poke the holes. Although the recipe says that you might have glaze over, I had the perfect amount, but I also made 4 extra cupcakes.

The frosting was as easy to make as frosting always is. I made a few changes. Instead of adding 3 tablespoons of margarita mix, I substituted one tablespoon with tequila, since everyone I work with likes to taste the alcohol in their cupcakes. After everything was mixed together, I didn't think that the icing tasted lime-y enough, so I threw in a dash of lime juice. Well after the taste test, my mom said the icing tasted too much like lime. So, in the end, I put a little scoop of strawberry topping on the top of the cupcake to bring it all together.

I'm on the fence about these cupcakes. Of course everyone at work went crazy for them and told me they were amazing and all that. Maybe I'm just my toughest critic. For me, the cupcakes were a little dense, but that helped a lot with letting the glaze soak in. The cream cheese icing was great, like cream cheese icing always is. I would make these cupcakes again for sure though.


Cupcake Ingredients
3 c cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
1/2 c margarita mix
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp lime zest
5 Tbsp strawberry preserves
1/3 tequila
3 eggs
1/2 c milk

Cupcake How to
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add margarita mix, lime juice, lime zest, strawberry preserves, and tequila and mix on low speed to incorporate. (Mix may appear slightly curdled at this point, but don't worry, it will come back together with flour)
5. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 the milk, and repeat mixing after each addition until just incorporated, ending with the flour mixture.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners and bake approximately 20 minutes. Cool approximately 10 minutes.

Curled Looking Batter

Glaze Ingredients
1/2 c margarita mix
2 Tbsp tequila
1/2 c powdered sugar
Red food coloring

Glaze How to
1. Put powdered sugar in a small bowl, whisk in margarita mix and tequila to make a tick liquid glaze. Add a few drops of red food coloring to desired color.
2. Poke 4-5 holes in each cooled cupcake with a wooden skewer.
3. Spoon glaze over cupcakes, about a tablespoon at a time, giving the glaze a chance to absorb before adding more. You may have glaze left over.

Frosting Ingredients
1/2 c unsalted butter
8 oz cream cheese
4-6 c powdered sugar
3 Tbsp margarita mix
2 Tbsp strawberry preserves
Red food coloring

Frosting How to
1. Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
2. Add margarita mix and preserves and beat until will incorporated.
3. Add sugar one cup at a time until frosting is desired consistency.
4. Add a few drops of red food coloring to tin frosting.
5. Pipe frosting on cupcakes as desired. Top with sliced strawberries for garnish.