[cue celebratory reaction]
I'm writing for earthzine, an online magazine that publishes articles about Earth science. I'll mainly be writing about Earth science technology, and I'll also be doing some of the content management for the site. (As an aside: working on the content management for the site has made me realize how very little effort I've put into themeing/beautifying/SEOing this blog. That's probably why my regular readers number in the single digits.)
However, there is one drawback.
[noises of astonishment]
I no longer have a kitchen.
I know, I know. It's shocking. A scandal. This was supposed to be The Summer of Baking. But, our story does have a hero. And that hero is my Aunt Barbara (and her family).
Thanks to them and their (wonderful, well-stocked, shiny, spacious, two-oven-having) kitchen, this was possible:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes (from RiCAKEulous)
makes 12-14 cupcakes
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks) at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chip
2. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. Measure out the milk and vanilla in a measuring cup.
5. Alternate adding the dry ingredients an the milk to the creamed butter/sugar. Mix until just combined.
6. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Fill cupcake papers to about 4/5 full (I'm going to make it tricky for you) and bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
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| Maybe I should follow Psych's example and try to include a pineapple in every post. |
OKAY. So I don't know if it's because people are scared of having a recipe that makes a n y t h i n g other than a dozen cupcakes or if they just don't beta test enough, but almost every cupcake recipe I've tried that claims to make 12 cupcakes really makes more like 14 or 15 cupcakes. I mean, you can squeeze the batter into 12 (some of the time) but a few of your cupcakes will be massively oversized, spill out of the paper, and stick to the pan. If you have the space, just go for 14. More cupcakes = more people who get to eat cupcakes = world peace.
Anyway. Frosting.
Cookie Dough Frosting
Makes enough for 24 cupcakes.
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2. Slowing add in the powdered sugar and beat to combine.
3. Beat in the flour and salt.
4. Beat in the heavy cream and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
OP was right about this frosting being delicious. BUT IS IT REALLY SO DELICIOUS THAT YOU NEED A QUARTER CUP ON EVERY CUPCAKE???!?!?!!
Yeah. I would just like to emphasize again that the frosting recipe above makes enough for two dozen (24) cupcakes. The amounts I used were intended for use on one batch of cupcakes. I made two batches, and I still had frosting left over. DO NOT USE THIS MUCH FROSTING ON ONE BATCH OF CUPCAKES. YOU WILL DIE.
This is another problem I've run into a lot, though. Bloggers will include these frosting recipes with the cupcake recipe, and at the end of the process, I either have the option to throw out a bunch of frosting or heap each cupcake up with an ungodly amount of butter and sugar.
Don't get me wrong, I love frosting. It's my favorite part of the cupcake, or of any cake. But...??!?!?!?!? It's ridiculous sometimes.
Anyway, aside from the entirely mis-estimated frosting-to-cupcake ratio, I would really recommend this recipe. It's not overly sweet, and the cupcakes actually do taste like chocolate chip cookies (you may have noticed the absence of white sugar) and the frosting is a very good emulator of cookie dough (though, of course, both components are much softer than their models).
