"C" is also for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake

I've already made quite a few different kinds of cupcakes prior to starting this blog. I've posted some pictures on Facebook and have gathered quite a collection of positive comments and buckets of drool! Thanks guys! I have had some requests for recipes so I'm going to start going back and posting the recipes for those cupcakes.

The first one is for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake, as requested by Sara and Ange-Tina. I first made these a few weekends ago for a birthday party. Of course, after making them and taking pictures, I had to try the cupcake to see if it was good or not! Since I cut the cupcake in half to take a picture of the delicious hidden centre, I ate just one half first. It was so rich and delicious that I had to save the other half for later. So I ate the other half while getting ready to go to the party and called it dinner! Yum! At the party the cupcakes sat on the table with everyone glancing over at them for half the night. I guess everyone was waiting for it to be 'dessert time'? and no one wanted to be the first to dig in. Also, no one knew what kind they were. So finally someone took the first cupcake and needless to say, within 10 minutes they were nearly all gone! We all worked off our sugar highs by playing Wii Bowling!

So here is the recipe for quite possibly my favourite cupcake so far! Wait...I take that back...my favourite Chocolate-based cupcake so far! (Like I've said before, I'm indecisive!)

If you're looking for a quick and easy cupcake to make, then skip over this one! There are many parts to this creation!

There are 4 parts to this recipe:
1. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - You can use store bought cookie dough, but this recipe is really easy to make and probably tastes way better then anything you'll find in the frozen aisle.
2. The Chocolate Cupcake - You can use any chocolate cupcake batter recipe. I've tried a few different recipes and I've found that the Martha Stewart recipe is really rich and tasty and easy!
3. The Egg-less Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - This cookie dough is incorporated into the frosting, which is obviously not cooked, so it's safe to eat.
4. The Frosting (that includes the egg-less cookie dough)

Part 1: The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
I found this recipe on The Cupcake Review blog, which led me another blog, etc. etc. It is for "The Chewy" by Alton Brown. I baked a few of the cookies while I was at it, and they were really tasty!

"The Chewy" by Alton Brown
Makes 2.5 Dozen

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat.
- Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
- Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Chill the dough.

- Form the dough into balls using about a tablespoon of dough. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for about 1 hour.

If you want to make the actual cookies themselves follow these instructions:
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

- Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet.

- Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Part 2: The Chocolate Cupcake
I used Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe, although any chocolate recipe can be used.

Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 18-24 cupcakes (I always half the recipe and get a perfect dozen)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons safflower oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

- Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.

- Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

- At this point add 1 ball of frozen cookie dough to each cupcake. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed.
- Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

**Note: If you don't have buttermilk, or don't want to buy an entire 1 litre container of it (because seriously, what would you do with the rest!) you can make buttermilk by combining 1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp of white vinegar, stirring it and letting it sit for 10 minutes. Make sure to stir it again before you use it because it will be a little clumpy.

Part 3: The Egg-less Cookie Dough

Okay. So now you have your cupcakes cooling and it's time to make the frosting. I found this recipe on the Lovin' from the Oven blog. I never said this recipe would be easy and it sure wasn't easy to find exactly what I wanted to make! I spent a lot of time googling...!

Eggless Cookie Dough

Makes enough for 1 batch of frosting (which is enough for 12 cupcakes...so if you made 2 dozen cupcakes double this recipe and the frosting recipe as well)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

2 teaspoons water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

a bit of milk (I added this ingredient myself because I found the dough to be a bit too crumbly. Add about 1 tsp of milk at the end just to make it more dough-y. You can add more if you don't like the consistency.)

Method:

- Cream the butter and brown sugar in a small bowl. Add water and vanilla and mix well.

- Add flour and salt and stir to combine.

- Stir in mini chocolate chips.

**Note: I'm not sure how easy or hard it is to find mini chocolate chips, but you can use regular chocolate chips and just chop them up. I initially tried doing this by hand and was extremely frustrated when it came time to pipe the frosting. I would recommend just blending the chocolate chips in a food processor until they're fairly small pieces but not powdery.

Part 4: The Frosting

The frosting is essentially a basic buttercream with cookie dough added in as the flavouring. When you make the buttercream it will look like you won't have enough to even frost 6 cupcakes, but remember, you'll be adding a whole batch of cookie dough to the mix! I also found this recipe on the Lovin' from the Oven blog.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Buttercream

Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes (if you made 2 dozen cupcakes double this recipe)

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

Eggless cookie dough

Method:

- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.

- Add milk and continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary.

- With the mixer running, slowly add remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, mix until well combined.

- At this point you can mix in the eggless cookie dough. Mix in enough cookie dough to suit your taste.

**Note: I added almost all of the cookie dough, for flavour purposes, but then found that the frosting was too thick to pipe. If this happens you can add a little splash of milk to thin it out a bit. But remember to mix the frosting with an electric mixer again or your frosting will be grainy looking.

***Note 2: Any cookie dough left over you can gladly eat! There are no eggs in it so it is safe. Yum!

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Now that you have your cupcakes and your frosting ready, it's time to frost the cupcakes. If you want to get that fancy, pro-looking swirl then use the fitted into a piping bag! It's super easy! This is the part that has caused me frustrations every time, without fail. Chunks of chocolate chips get stuck in this tip very easily and ruin the whole swirly effect because all the frosting gets backed up. So, either make sure your choco chips are small enough to begin with, and if they're not then you can use a hand blender to mix up the frosting to crush up the chips some more. This also blends the chips into the frosting and makes it taste a whole lot more chocolatey! YUM YUM YUM!

Introducing THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKE!!

Take a look INSIDE this beauty! I think this is pure perfection right here!