truffle brownie cupcakes with cookie dough frosting
On this beautiful morning, July 13th, she cooks, he eats is officially a year old! Coincidentally, it is also Friday the 13th…
When I started this blog, I thought it was just going to be my boyfriend and I reading it. A lot has changed since I started blogging and started opening my life up to this crazy world called the internet. But I’m glad I did it because through this blog I’ve met a lot of wonderful people with the same passions, likes, goals, even dislikes! I think the blogging community is a wonderful community to be apart of and I love being apart of it.
I started this blog as a way to document my cooking adventures because I was such a newbie in the kitchen and I just wanted to learn how to cook and not feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would actually have a recipe published. That is still one of my greatest personal accomplishments. Thank you for joining me on my cooking adventures (and mis-adventures!) and I’m so grateful for all of your friendships, support, and advice. Thank you guys again :)
So before I turn extremely sappy, I want to share a recipe with you guys first!
As with any celebration, cupcakes are always a must! So I would like to share with you the recipe for my bday cupcakes (what is wrong with me? why didn’t I post these sooner?!)! I couldn’t decide what to bake for my birthday dessert because…well, let’s be honest…I have a very hard time making up my mind AND sticking to it too! But the obvious choice was cupcakes! And since it was also our anniversary, I wanted to do something with cookies or brownies because those or my boyfriend’s favorite desserts. Rather than baking 3 different desserts, I combined them all together and Truffle Brownie Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting were born!
The inspiration for these cupcakes actually comes from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Sally doesn’t know me, but I love her. Her baking addiction has become my baking obsession and my boyfriend’s worse nightmare. She comes up with these crazy, indulgent, and beautiful desserts that just blows your mind! I’ve pinned almost everything she’s ever baked onto my Pinterest boards! Most baking blogs that I do follow and love use complicated ingredients (that I would purchase and probably only use once) and sometimes can be quite overwhelming and difficult to even attempt. But not Sally’s!! Her directions are clear and concise, and she’s not afraid of using an obscene amount of sprinkles! Le sigh, I can go on and on about Sally’s Baking Addiction but I won’t, instead I will just direct you to her blog here :)
You can obviously go the all-homemade route or you can do semi-homemade like me! Since I found a box of Trader Joe’s baking mix lying around (purchased as a back-up dessert for my chewy chocolate chip cookie bottomed cupcakes) I just used that and made the cookie dough frosting.
This is the type of dessert you need in your life when you can’t decide between a cupcake or a cookie… In my opinion, I think it’s criminal to make someone choose between a cupcake or a cookie because both are impossible to resist!
I made these cupcakes this past weekend for an “end of the year/retirement party” that my Department from school was throwing. I think these cupcakes were a success :)
Rather than take the semi-homemade route, I spent all afternoon making everything from scratch…the cookie dough, the cupcake batter, even right down to the buttercream frosting! I was a bit overwhelmed and worried so I did buy a box of pre-made brownie mix and frosting from Trader Joe’s as an emergency dessert but I didn’t have to use it!
If you wanted to, I’m sure you can take the non-DIY route and use all pre-made mixes/frosting and it would turn out just as good. But after taking the time to make these from scratch, I think I will continue doing so but only for special occasions. My only suggestion is to use the finest quality ingredients you can afford, because (especially) for baking I think you do notice a difference :)
These cupcakes are amazing! You can never go wrong with cookie dough…
and yummy vanilla cupcake batter!
Add the two together…
OH! Don’t forget to use pretty cupcake liners! I feel a cupcake liner obsession coming soon! Every time I see super cute cupcake liners, I buy :(
Bake in the oven! It took me exactly 25 minutes but cooking time does vary so be sure to check around the 15-18 minute mark.
He couldn’t wait, I caught my boyfriend trying to steal one while the cupcakes were cooling :)
While the cupcakes were cooling, I whipped up my first vanilla buttercream frosting! OMG it was so easy! I can’t believe I’ve been using pre-made frostings! I’m going to start making my own frostings from now on! I can’t wait to try new flavors for my next cupcakes :)
My new cupcake decorating kit makes my cupcakes look so legit! They just look so presentable! Another “I can’t believe” moment…why didn’t I get one sooner, le sigh. PS. I used the Wilton M1 tip. I haven’t tried the other tips in my kit but this one is my favorite and perfect for the “classic swirl” cupcakes.
Decorate the top with either sprinkles (the sprinkles I used matched the liners perfectly)…
or top with a mini cookie on top! PS. I doubled the cookie recipe to make mini cookies :)
For the longest time, my favorite part of a cupcake was the top but now after making these cupcakes, I can wholeheartedly say that I love the bottoms!
Oh, and here are the cupcakes in their box en route to the party! Cupcakes overload, I am the stage mom of cupcakes. Just one picture will never do :)
AHHHHH! Cookie bottomed goodness, right? I think I need to experiment and try different variations! What are some of your suggestions? Maybe a snickerdoodle cookie with a cinnamon sugar cupcake? Let me know in the comments below!
Thank you for stopping by and reading! Hope you have a lovely day! xoxo, kat
ps, I eventually gave him a cupcake :)
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bottomed Cupcakes (from how sweet it is)
cookie layer:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until it’s light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Line a muffin tin with liners and give each a quick spritz of non-stick spray. Using a spoon also sprayed with non-stick spray, press about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cookie dough into the bottom of each liner.
cupcake layer:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 whole eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients.
Using an ice cream scoop, drop batter on top of cookie dough mixture.
Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.
vanilla buttercream:
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of milk, if needed
Directions:
Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixture until completely smooth and creamy.
With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar slowly.
Gradually increase mixer speed and add vanilla, then beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl.
If frosting is too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached If it’s too thin, add sugar gradually until it thickens.
Hmm, so I couldn’t decide which one to post first for my three-part date night series, so after going through pics these stood out! Obviously…
On days when I’m not craving red velvet (I love me my red velvet!), funfetti cupcakes are my second indulgence. I love sprinkles! And no, it’s not that little cupcakery in Bev. Hills that I’m always talking to death raving about.
My mind is always in a million other places when I blog, le sigh… But back to my point! I have a huge sprinkle obsession! There’s just something about biting into a cake and seeing specs of colorful sprinkles all throughout, it. just. makes. me. smile, period.
I hate leaving you in suspense, so without further ado, my-go-to-ultra-top-secret-cupcake-recipe-that-everything-loves-and-everyone-believes-I-slaved-all-day-in-a-hot-kitchen-baking (ie, best baking shortcut ever!), keep on reading…
I am mad at myself. I love my little blog here, and I love the food blogging community! Everyone is so talented and creative, I wish I had half the talent, ingenuity, skill, and creativity as you guys out there! Sigh…
Welp, I apologize for not blogging as much as I have been but these past few months have been super chaotic! I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out why below… :)
Here’s a photo diary of what I’ve been up to recently…
Sometimes, it’s fun to smart the morning off with a little sip of wine (or I’ve dubbed them “wine shots” lol), a two-day old chocolate chip blondie, and probably the best vegan soy drink ever! If you haven’t already, try VitaSoy! It’s all-natural, high in protein, and best of all no dairy!
After my super healthy breakfast (haha, not really!), I made my favorite purchase of the year…
After that, we made an impromptu trip to LA and spent the day with his family. They feed me so well, I left with a belly full of tacos! Eeek, I ate 4 tacos! And then my boyfriend surprised with a late-night rainy trip to Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills. I finally got to see the cupcake ATM!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to use the ATM machine but I did have fun waiting in line and drooling over all the yummy cupcakes on display…
On the way back, we found this…
9021PHO!! Has anyone tried? :)
But noshed on this instead…
Hmmm so many choices!! Which one is your fave?
And our nights ended with a scary movie marathon!
Hope everyone’s having a wonderful week!
xoxo, kat
ps, i’m now obsessed with Instagramming and tweeting all my recent eats! please follow me on twitter @shecooksheeats :)
My favorite cupcakery in the www (whole wide world :) is Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills, CA. I love their cupcakes! Some of my favorite flavors from Sprinkles include red velvet (I’m a huge red velvet girl!), black and white, cinnamon sugar, and carrot. I am very lucky to have a boyfriend that understands (and supports) my cupcake addiction :)
When you have those late night drunken munchies you no longer have to settle for bacon wrapped hot dogs because now Sprinkles offers a 24 hour, 7 days a week cupcake ATM. CUP. CAKE. ATM. OMG! This makes me very happy because I could seriously eat a cupcake a day, one a day! It keeps the doctor away, no? :)
And they are also opening an ice cream shop right next door! I can’t wait to go!!!
Have you ever tried a Sprinkles cupcake before? What are some of your favorite flavors?
Look what kind of trouble blog hopping got me into…
photo weheartit.com
Oh sweets, how much I love you! For me, sweets is up there with bacon! On my latest foodie blog binge on Google Reader, I couldn’t help but click on every link that contained the words chocolate, chocolate covered, ice cream, cookies, and cupcake. I think it’s safe to say that my mind was subconsciously telling me to eat chocolate covered ice cream cupcake sprinkled with cookie bits! Wouldn’t you agree? :)
Here’s what I found that was so tempting/so bad/I’ll regret myself for eating/things I want to make…sweets edition: