Happy Birthday CV!

The best thing about having CV as a colleague is that she challenges me to make a new, more exciting cupcake each year for her birthday.

When I emailed her asking what she wanted, she wasted no time asking, “What do you know about chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes?”

What I knew was that Annie was sure to have made them.  And right I was.

The great thing about any of Annie’s cupcakes is that you can be sure her recipe is a winner.  5.5 sticks of butter in all the fixins?  Flour in the icing?  Trust her.  She knows her cupcakes.

I’ve never been disappointed.  And yet, I do not heed my own advice.  I pulled together the filling one night, and the cupcakes and frosting the following.  And as I assembled, and topped with sprinkles, I thought, “Isn’t this all going to be a little too much?”  Too much butter, too much brown sugar, just too much for a cupcake to handle?

HA.

Wrong.

These cupcakes are a LOT.  But they’re not too much.  And our co-workers were begging for more.  A couple even hunted me down when they found out what they missed during lunch.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes are comprised of three parts.  A chocolate chip cookie-esque cupcake base, a faux chocolate chip cookie dough (tastes identical, but no raw egg), and a silky smooth brown sugar buttercream.  Annie topped things off with a mini-chocolate chip cookie, to boot, but I just didn’t have the zing I needed to keep my oven going any longer.  She wins.

To make 30, you will need:

For the cupcakes:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 2/3 C flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 C milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 C chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream butter and sugar together in bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment.  Add eggs, one at a time, stopping to scrape bowl down as necessary.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.  Add dry ingredients and milk, alternating between the two, a little at a time.  You want to go flour-milk-flour-milk-flour.  Mix in vanilla until just blended.  Fold in chocolate chips with spatula.  Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full and bake 18-20 minutes, till cupcakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove cupcakes from pan after about 5-10 minutes, and let cool completely on wire rack.

For the filling:
*I made the filling the night before I made the cupcakes, but you could do it as they are cooking/cooling.

• 4 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 T light brown sugar, packed
• 1 C, plus 2 T flour
• 7 oz. sweetend condensed milk (I know what you can do with the rest of the 14 oz. can)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 C mini chocolate chips

Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment till light and fluffy, about two minutes.  Beat in flour, condensed milk and vanilla until mixture is smooth.  Fold in mini-chips with spatula.  Set in fridge to cool slightly.

For the frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/3 C powdered sugar
• 2/3 C flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Beat butter and brown sugar in bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar and mix till smooth.  Beat in flour and salt.  Add vanilla and mix till combined.  If icing is still on the thick side, add milk and mix till combined.

To assemble cupcakes, cut small hole or cone-shape out of the top of each.  These extra little cupcake bits make great snacks while you work.  Fill the space you’ve created with your chilled filling.  Then, just spread, or pipe icing on top.

If you’re too spent to top with mini chocolate chip cookies, top with chocolate sprinkles instead.