Mississippi Mud Cupcakes

The winner with 78 votes is.... Mississippi Mud Cupcakes. I voted for these because how can they not be completely delicious with chocolate chips, crushed Oreos, and chocolate cake?? I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, but luckily I was in a chocolate mood when I made these. They're perfect! Everyone loved them. So here you go...

ingredients... a lot of them!
ready for the ovencooling & looking good enough to eat topped with leftover chocolate frosting

Recipe from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans.

MY NOTES: I let my eggs and sour cream come to room temp (as usual). The recipe originally says it makes just 18 cupcakes, but I easily got 24. I microwaved my unsweetened chocolate instead of using a double boiler to melt it. I reduced the sugar to 1 cup.

Mississippi Mud Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/4 cups sugar (I cut back to just 1 cup)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water

2 1/4 cups crushed Oreo cookies (about 20 cookies)
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 24 muffin tin cups with paper liners.

Put the unsweetened chocolate in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture looks creamy and the color has lightened slightly, about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of the cookie pieces and 2 teaspoons of chocolate chips into the bottom of each paper liner. Spoon a scant 1/4 cup of batter over the chocolate chips. Sprinkle remaining cookie pieces and chocolate chips over the tops, pressing them gently into the batter.

Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pans on a wire rack.

Optionally, top the cupcakes with melted chocolate or your favorite chocolate frosting.