Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Baking the perfect cupcake is harder than it sounds. First, the cake consistency needs to be moist and light and packed with flavor. Second, I love a little surprise in the middle of the cake whether it's cream, jelly, chocolate, etc. Third, good frosting is a must. This chocolate chip cookie dough stuffed cupcake recipe meets all these criteria. The cake batter made from scratch is delicious and I love biting into it and getting the surprise of uncooked (eggless) cookie dough in the middle.

One trick I read that helps cupcakes retain their moisture is to immediately remove the cake from the pan after baking and placing it in a sealed container to let them steam while cooling. I tried this on half of my cupcakes and it really does create a much moister cake. The only problem I found was that the liners began to sweat themselves off the cakes. Some cakes didn't lose their liners possibly because the batter was filled all the way to the rim of the paper. I tried removing the cakes before they completely cooled and this seemed to somewhat help prevent the loss of paper. Next time I think I'll try another trick of using a large ice cream scoop to make your cupcakes more uniform in size and hopefully tall enough to avoid losing their paper.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

• 3 sticks unsalted 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 chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula and mix by hand.
• Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the 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

•To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture. You can be generous with the cookie dough mixture.

For the frosting:
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. milk
• 2½ tsp. vanilla extract

• To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.
• Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.
(*My Notes: This makes a lot of frosting but if you're using a pastry bag you'll need all of it.)

Decoration Ideas:
• Tiny chocolate chip cookies
• Mini chocolate chips
• Chocolate shavings

Who Dished it first? Fox News