Chocolate Cookie Dough Minicakes

Okay so you're probably thinking one of two things. Either, "Oh, my god, that looks AMAZING!" or "Won't that make me sick?" And here is my answer to both questions: Yes, it is amazing but no, the cookie dough has no egg in it so no worries about salmonella poisoning. (Yay!)
 In fact, the chocolate cake is egg-less as well (I know crazy right?!) so if you're itching to bake something and just happen to be out of eggs, this is a great recipe to try!



For these delicious minis, I was inspired by my friend (and soon-to-be bride-to-be) Heather. This weekend is her bachelorette party and she requested that I make some cupcakes. Originally, she requested Red Velvet (which I have made on a couple occasions) but one other of her friend was making Red Velvet truffles (which I am super excited to try tomorrow) so I decided to go another route.
Heather told me how much she loves cookie dough so I decided that sounded like a fun challenge. (Thanks, Heather! I love you!) After much internal debate of how exactly to execute this task, this is what I have come up with. Enjoy!

Cookie Dough
Ingredients:
1/2 stick (4 tbs.) butter, softened
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. water
1 c. all-purpose flour
Chocolate chips

Finished cookie dough

Cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add vanilla and water and mix well. Gradually add flour mixing thoroughly between each addition until creamed together. Add chocolate chips. (I used 1/4 a regular sized bag. You can use more if you want but I was afraid too many chips would be hard to work with. Plus I wanted to save some to top them with!)

Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1/2 oil
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vinegar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1 c. buttermilk

Cream oil and sugar together until creamy. Add vanilla and vinegar and mix again until combined.







In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.

Finished chocolate cupcakes

Gradually add flour mixture to batter, alternating with buttermilk. Mix well - until all the lumps are gone. Batter will be smooth and creamy (and delicious looking!)
Line cups with cupcake liners and fill 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes for regular cupcakes or 10-13 minutes for minicakes. Allow to cool completely.





Hollow out center of cupcakes with a butter knife. Roll cookie dough into small balls and stuff into the cupcakes. (Make sure you get some of those chocolate chips in there for an added crunchiness!)






Brown Sugar Buttercream


Ingredients:

1/2 c. Crisco shortening (I used butter flavor but you can use regular and add 1 tsp. butter flavoring)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. brown sugar
6-8 c. powdered sugar
2-3 tsp. hot water

Cream the shortening and vanilla together on medium until creamy. (Mixture should resemble the consistency of sour cream)  Add brown sugar and mix well. Add 2 tsp. hot water and mix well.

Finished Frosting

Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing well in between. Add more hot water if needed. (I didn't really measure. This is more of a process of adding powered sugar, tasting, adding more hot water, checking consistency, adding more powdered sugar. Eventually you will get to what you need.)

Frosting may be slightly gritty when finished. Frost cupcakes and top with chocolate chips, if desired.

I tried to cut the final product in half so that you could see how awesome they are at the end but I couldn't get a good photo so instead, I decided to draw you a picture of what the final product would look like. :)

Anatomy of a cupcake
(Artist Rendering)

Okay, so its not actually "art" but you get the idea. Anyway, these are sinfully delicious and I hope you find them as amazing as I did. (I know Sam did!) 


One more thing to add, I made these later to bring to work (since I had so many requests)  and I did try one variation. Instead of the brown sugar buttercream, I used Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting. It's for those of you who need a little bit toned down on the the sweetness. You can find the recipe for Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting on my Chocolate Vino Minicakes recipe!