Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes

In honor of January 27 being National Chocolate Cake Day, last week's poll featured all chocolate cupcakes. The winner with 206 votes is Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes! First, I just wanna say THANK YOU to everyone who voted. I'm so glad the majority of you picked this one! Two summers ago, my cousin and I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes from Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor. They were freakin awesome. I've been dying to make them again ever since! This time I made the cupcake part from scratch instead of using a box mix. I also wanted it to be chocolate. The batter needed to be thick in order to support the big ball of frozen cookie dough, but all of my favorite chocolate cupcake recipes are really thin. I remembered that the chocolate batter from the Neapolitan Cupcakes was very thick, so I went with that one. Keep in mind that these cupcakes need to be refrigerated. Cupcakes made from scratch, especially those made with butter, tend to become hard when refrigerated. In my opinion these cupcakes are best when they're cold. Just something about biting into that cold, chewy cookie dough sends me through the roof! So if you want your cupcakes to stay soft in the fridge, I recommend using cake mix. However, these cupcakes seemed to work really well with the cookie dough, even when cold. They did become hard in the fridge, but they were still moist. So it was almost like eating a brownie with cookie dough inside! And the frosting... oh the frosting... it's a light, whipped cream cheese frosting with bits of homemade (eggless) cookie dough. This whole cupcake is to die for. The Cookie Dough Cupcake definitely wins my vote as the best cupcake ever invented!

Ingredients...It's so strange how something can go from this...

...To this in 22 minutes! :D

Isn't that just insane??

You know it's good when you sacrifice nutrition to have this for breakfast!

Now for the recipes....
I couldn't find a roll of cookie dough smaller than 1 lb. so I just used half of that. You need 8 oz. of frozen or refrigerated cookie dough. Cut it into 12 pieces. Roll them into balls and freeze them for 1 hour. Then make the cupcakes...

Chocolate Cupcakes (from MarthaStewart.com)
Makes 12
Ingredients
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan (I increased this to 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I reduced this to 1/4 cup; Use original amounts if you want a really chocolatey cupcake)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan, or use paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla, and mix until combined. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, followed by milk; end with remaining flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated (do not overmix).
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Place a ball of frozen cookie dough on top of each cup (do not push it in). Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center of a cupcake (but not in the cookie dough) comes out clean, 22 to 24 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookie Dough Frosting (I found this recipe on a message board that has since been erased; This makes enough for 24 cupcakes, so I halved it)
For the cookie dough
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar, plus 2 tbsp
2 tsp water
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips

For the frosting
1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar (I reduced this to 2/3 cup)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

For the cookie dough, 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 1/3 cup Mini Morsels. Wrap the dough in waxed paper and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Break dough into 1/4 teaspoon sized chunks and place the chunks on a plate or in a plastic container, separating layers with waxed paper.
Store them in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the frosting, in a medium bowl (a cold bowl with cold beaters) beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat); set aside. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Fold the frozen cookie dough chunks into the frosting and immediately frost the cooled cupcakes.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 4
Tenderness: 4 (Before being refrigerated)
Frosting: 5
Deliciousness: 100!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Frosting

Not to gloat but..... my cupcakes just keep getting better! I can only take credit for the reproduction of these cupcakes (with help from my cousin, Stephanie). The recipe comes from The Cake Mix Doctor, and you can find it here. I had to search forever to find a recipe for cookie dough frosting. I finally found a great recipe on a message board.

Stephanie mixing the batter me filling the cups a HUGE (maybe too huge) piece of cookie dough in the center of each cupcake making the cookie dough for the frosting after only a few minutes in the oven 10 minutes to go... I thought they would definitely explode before they finished baking. They did overflow, but not too bad. Also, some sank a bit.I'm giving Crumbs Bakery a run for their money.

I'm so glad there are 24 of these little beauties. However, I don't think I'll have that same feeling the next time I try to fit into my bathing suit.

It's so delicious! Definitely the best thing I've made so far!

I'm pretty sure the pieces of cookie dough I used were too big. I followed the instructions for using the 18 oz. log of cookie dough, but they still overflowed. Next time, I'll look for the actual frozen cookie dough pieces the recipe calls for. Also, I think the frosting was a bit too sweet. I added a pinch of salt to cut down the sweetness, but it did nothing. Unless you are the type of person who likes super-sweet frosting, cut down the sugar to 2/3 or 1/2 cup. The cupcake is sweet enough already.

Enjoy!!!

COOKIE DOUGH FROSTING:
cookie dough:
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar, plus 2 tbsp
2 tsp water
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup flour
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips

frosting:
1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

For the cookie dough, 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 1/3 cup Mini Morsels. Wrap the dough in waxed paper and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Break dough into 1/4 teaspoon sized chunks and place the chunks on a plate or in a plastic container, separating layers with waxed paper.
Store them in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the frosting, in a medium bowl beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat); set aside. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Fold the frozen cookie dough chunks into the frosting and immediately frost the cooled cupcakes.