Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes ... Oh. My. Goodness.

Yes, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.  As in, chocolate chip cake batter, filled with chocolate chip cookie dough filling, and topped with brown sugar cookie dough frosting.  Yes.  All that!

I saw this recipe back in January but wasn't quite recovered from having the baby to dive into this kind of baking challenge.  So, I've waited...and waited... and finally I had a Saturday morning with no plans.

Last night I decided that when I woke up today, I'd make the cupcakes and take them to our annual Chitterling Supper at church.  If you don't know...don't ask.

The Atwater family will be eating the alternative : grilled chicken and burgers.  In fact, I shouldn't even mention chitterlings in the same post as these cupcakes...

Anyway, so here's the recipe.  This is not a simple fast recipe, like I usually prefer.  It has quite a few steps and ingredients... and requires some patience, but let me tell you, it's very worth it!

These are delicious!  The Brown Sugar Cookie Dough Frosting alone is so good it's worth a whole day of baking to get a bite of that stuff!

In fact, I had to really fight the urge to ditch the cupcakes, take the bowl of icing with a big spoon, and go hide in a closet.  Did I just say that out loud?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Yield :: Approximately 36 cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes:

• 3 sticks of butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions for the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners. The original recipe says 24, but I had enough batter for 36 cupcakes (although some of mine could've been filled a little more, so maybe 30ish cupcakes?).
3. In a large mixing bowl (I used my Kitchenaid with the paddle attachment) combine the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one and scraping down the bowl often.
5. In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the original mixture, alternating with milk and mixing on low until it's incorporated.
7. Stir or fold in the chocolate chips (don't use a mixer for this).
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until done.
9. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. 

While the cupcakes are cooling, you can make the cookie dough filling and frosting!

Ingredients for the cookie dough filling:

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions for the cookie dough filling:

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
2. Add the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and continue to beat until smooth.
3. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
4. Cover with plastic wrap or seal in an airtight container and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit.  *I confess, I skipped this step.  I put the filling into an icing bag with a large round tip (1A) and left it at room temperature until I used it.  I'm not sure if or how it would've been better chilled.

After the cupcakes have cooled, you can use an apple corer (mine is Tupperware) to easily pop out a hole in the middle of the cupcakes.

Then pipe the cookie dough filling into the hole to fill in where you scooped out the cake, and smooth it down with your finger if needed.

You could also just cut a chunk of cake out of the center with a knife if you wanted to and fill with a spoon, but since I had these nifty tools on hand, I figured I might as well use them!

Brown Sugar Cookie Dough Frosting

Ingredients for the Brown Sugar Cookie Dough Frosting:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. milk
• 2½ tsp. vanilla extract
• mini chocolate chips, for decorations

Directions for the frosting:

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar with a mixer (or paddle attachment) until light and fluffy. 
2. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix on low until it's all added.
3. Add the flour, salt, milk and vanilla and mix until it's all incorporated.  I know flour might be a surprise ingredient (or at least it was for me), but this is really some of the very best frosting ever.  EV. ER.
4. At this point, I switched my paddle attachment for my whisk attachment and whipped it up until it was super light and fluffy!  It was so smooth... it was like it melted in my mouth!
5. Frost the filled cupcakes.  I used an icing bag with a 1M tip and garnished them with mini chocolate chips!

Here's my detailed opinion of these.  Overall these are some of the best cupcakes I've ever had.  I mean, when they're called "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes", could they really be bad?  I don't think so!  I mean, look at these babies...

More specifically, that is THE best frosting I've ever had.  Did I already mention that?  I liked the cake and filling, but the frosting was the silver lining... or rather the super, delicious "icing on the cake" (forgive the pun...I know I'm not funny!).

The cake itself was a little dry and crumbly when I ate a plain cupcake.  It needed more moisture in my opinion, but with the filling and frosting, that "flaw" wasn't very noticeable.

The filling was my least favorite part, when tasted alone.  It wasn't bad... I mean, read the ingredients and you know that, but it just wasn't spot on.  I can't put my finger on what was wrong, but it needed something.  Again though - when it's in the cupcake and has frosting on top - it's not something I notice.  It certainly wasn't a deal breaker for a cupcake this good!

Overall - you should make these.  As soon as possible.  Seriously.  Unless you're on a diet, then don't.  Did anyone count how many sticks of butter were used?   You don't want to know.

Recipe adapted from TidyMom.net.

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