Recipe : Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Our contributor, Lauren of Crave. Indulge. Satisfy., is back with a delicious new recipe….

Fruity or chocolate…which option do you often find yourself picking when it comes to desserts?  I’m a chocolate girl myself, but in the summer months I tend to sway more to the fruity, fresh and lighter sweets.  So I was originally planning to make a Key Lime Pie flavored cupcake for this month’s post to embrace some of the fresh flavors and colors of summer.  Well I’m sure you are wondering, so what happened with the tart and tangy Key Lime option, why am I staring at a screen full of chocolate chips right now?  Well the Key Lime cupcakes didn’t turn out the way I had envisioned so I decided to scrap the idea and stick with something that we all know and love, chocolate!  After all, anytime of year is the perfect time for chocolate right?  So today I’m excited to share with you these yummy Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.

These cupcakes are a favorite when it comes to celebrating birthdays with friends and family!  I baked the cupcakes in plain white liners at first so you could see all the chocolate chips inside.  Then I decided they needed a punch of color so I placed them inside some decorative purple and white stripe paper baking cups.

These vanilla based cupcakes are loaded with chips in every bite of both the cake and frosting, but feel free to change up the recipe to better suit your chocolate chip cravings!  What about a chocolate cake batter with chips to create a double chocolate chip cupcake!  Or how about swapping out the vanilla buttercream for chocolate?  You could even use mini chocolate chips.  I hope you have a bag of chocolate chips in your pantry so you can create your own Chocolate Chip Cupcake.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKES
recipe by Lauren Kapeluck
(makes 28)

For the cake:

1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
4 egg whites plus 1 whole egg
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In medium bowl combine flours, baking powder and salt and mix until well combined, set aside.
3. Combine milk and vanilla, set aside.
4. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs and beat, scraping sides of bowl until well combined.
6. Gradually add in dry ingredients alternating with wet ingredients and mix well, scrape sides of bowl as necessary.
7. Fold in chocolate chips.
8. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
9. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove  to wire racks to finish cooling.
11. Once cupcakes are completely cool frost with Vanilla Buttercream.

For the icing:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips

1. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter on high speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
2. Add confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time beating and scraping down bowl as necessary.
3. Add vanilla and mix well.
4. Continue beating icing for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
5. Place icing in piping bag fitted with large round piping tip and decorate cupcakes.
6. Add chocolate chips on top!

So next time you want to whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, think twice and make these Chocolate Chip Cupcakes instead, they are just as satisfying.  And I will warn you now, if you think by making these cupcakes you will not eat 3 or 4 like you would some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies out of the oven, well think again.  These cupcakes are equally as tempting and you will find yourself eating at least 2 or 3 in one day in guarantee it!  Each and every bite (or cupcake) is worth all the calories!

I must confess I ate 3 of these cupcakes in one day, YUM!