Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Caution: This post is actually not about Ainsley! I know it's hard to believe since all posts in the past 4 weeks have solely been about her. This one is about another one of my favorite things: food! :)

So I have a friend who is a baking goddess. She makes delicious food, period, but her desserts are absolutely lovely! This past Saturday, Chris, Ains and I as well as another couple went over to her house for socializing the Buckeye's game. We made homemade pizza from garlicy, cheesy bread to "regular" pizza with all kinds of toppings and then also a dessert pizza--apple streusel! It was all very good. Later she offered some cupcakes that she had made for another occasion. Yes, please! I chose to indulge in a cookie dough cupcake, complete with a chunk of cookie dough in the middle! Yum! Yum! Sara definitely has a knack for cupcakes!

So that was my inspiration for making some cupcakes of my own. And what kind of cupcakes would I make, you ask? Of course that would be chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes! These weren't "from scratch" but close enough to be much more than the funfetti bakery that I usual stick to! ;) [Isn't there a cooking show about taking boxed items and doctoring them up a bit for a nice/delicious touch?! That's what this is!]

So for the cupcakes, I used a regular box of white cake mix and instead of following the directions on the back, I doctored it up a it based on this website's suggestions. [Note: I was originally drawn to this site because of their free fonts and other blog design suggestions, so check them out!] Without going to the site, you can make a doctored up version of any cake mix by adding the following to the cake mix:

1 sm. box of instant pudding, just the powder DON'T prepare it [I used vanilla.]
1 c. sour cream
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

They also suggestion 2 c. of mini chocolate chips, but that was for chocolate cake so I skipped that suggestion.

Doctoring up ingredients!

You think mix everything together to make a thick batter [stir in the chocolate chips at the very end] and then bake. You can use the timing on the cake mix box as a suggestion. It was accurate for cupcakes. :)

So I scooped the batter into cupcake liners about half full [at first I put in more but it overflowed a bit after the cookie dough and baking. I then put a chunk of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough in each cupcake. It's important to use frozen cookie dough so that the dough doesn't bake along with the batter.

Chris helping putting in the frozen
cookie dough chunks.

I then put a teensy bit of batter on the cookie dough so it would be completely concealed. [I didn't do this at first either, but as a result I think the heat of the oven got to the cookie dough and baked it a bit which caused it to "cave in" a bit. This resulted in filling the cave with frosting to it didn't look funny. I guess that's not a bad thing. :) ]

Pre-baked goodness.

Speaking of frosting, for chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, I had to make some cookie dough frosting. I used this site's recipe for cookie dough buttercream. It was pretty easy to make and according to Chris, it was what almost made the cupcake. Note that the butter needs to be at room temperature. So you'll need to set this out before you make the cupcakes so you don't have to wait as long. Or you can take a break to breastfeed your demanding 4-week old. It takes about the same time! If you choose the latter make sure you have a great husband to take out the baked cupcakes when that untimely timer goes off. :)

Cookie Dough Butter Cream

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
3.5 c confectioners'/powdered sugar
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2.5 tsp. vanilla extract

To make it, beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy. It takes a couple minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. Then beat in the flour and salt. Finally mix in the milk and vanilla until it's all smooth and blended. Top your cooled cupcakes!

Final product, in awful lighting!

After the frosting was made and the cupcakes were cooled, I topped the cupcakes and then I put a few chocolate chips for the aesthetic appeal. After they were all iced and topped, Chris and I each enjoyed one with lots of milk! Chris said they were really good, and I thought they were good as well! Not as good as Sara's but that will take a lot more practicing. ;)

My handsome taste-tester.

Even though I wasn't responsible for snacks last night at TFC--I mistakenly thought I was Sunday night which was a reason that I made them--I still took them along for the leaders and our hostess home family. If I didn't, Goal #16 would never be accomplished. No one seemed to mind my little mistake and I even received a text from a leader about ten minutes after leaving that read, "Those cupcakes are AWESOME!! ;)" And my parents didn't seem to have a problem enjoying them as well. Not bad "payment" for watching Ainsley while we were at TFC, I'm sure!

So try them out! And check out Sara's blog for some to drool over delicious recipes!