Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

My family & I are so lucky to have picked just about the best street in a great neighborhood. That is something that is not always apparant when you choose to purchase a home....the houses might look nice, or the neighbors might take good care of their yards, but you really don't get to know them and their personalities until after you move in.

On our street we have some of the best neighbors that you can have. They cook for you when you are sick or home with a new baby. They take care of your home when you are away on vacation. They have well behaved, good children. We have neighborhood block parties, potlucks near the holidays, meet up at the part on a regular basis and we all band together when something is going on.

Last week, one of our neighbors finally sold their home (super sad face) after having it on the market for over a year...but the buyer wanted a very quick close and they only had 1 week to find a new home, pack everything up and move. So everyone that was able pitched in and helped them out with packing, loading the moving truck...just about anything that we could. And, since we knew that we would all miss them, we decided to throw a quickly put-together neighborhood potluck to say goodbye. And since I am known on the street as the "Cupcake Lady" I was asked to whip up a batch of cupcakes for the occasion.

I used the party as a reason to bake up a recipe that I had been wanting to try my hand at for quite a few months...Chocolate cupcakes stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough! And if that wasn't decadent enough, I topped them with vanilla buttercream frosting and a mini chocolate chip cookie. And let me tell you that they were a hit! Everyone was asking for the recipe and children had to be stopped from going back for seconds...I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as everyone at our neighborhood party did!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Adapted from My Baking Addiction


For the Cupcakes
Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
• 1/2 cup warm water
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Either refrigerated store bought or your own favorite recipe)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine instant espresso granules and warm water, stirring until dissolved. Add espresso mixture to the cake batter and stir until fully incorporated.
3. Evenly distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
4. Measure 1 teaspoon size balls of cookie dough and push a ball of dough into the center each cupcake. Be sure to completely cover the dough ball with batter.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

For the Frosting:
Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temp.
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 4-6 tablespoons  milk

Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy. (About 5 minutes) Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 3 tablespoons of milk until you reach the desired consistency.
3. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
3.  Put the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and garnish as desired. I used the Wilton 1M Star Tip to frost and then I added a mini chocolate chip cookie. (I used mini Chip Ahoy from the grocery store.)




I am linking this recipe up to: I'm Loving It, Show and Share Day, Sweet Tooth Friday, Friday Flair, Foodie Friday, Little Brick Ranch, Hodgepodge Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Social Parade Friday, la bella vita, Made By You Mondays, This Week's Cravings, Homemaker Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Tuesday to Do, Cupcake Tuesday, Balancing Beauty & Bedlam, Tip Me Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Take a Look Tuesday, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, This Chick Cooks, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Show and Tell, House of Hepworths, Recipe Swap Thursday, Show Off Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff, Transformation Thursday, It's a Keeper Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday