Chocolate Cupcake stuffed with Chocolate Chip Cookie

Adorable on the outside and stuffed with chocolate chips cookie on the inside….

…really the cupcake monster is almost too cute to eat 🙂

I love the combination the chocolate cupcake shell over the chocolate chip cookie. The chocolate chip cookie center is from a cookie recipe, but it is first frozen and then baked in the middle of the cupcake batter to avoid it turning into a hard cookie on the inside. Any soft cookie recipe should work for the center to the cupcake, making it a fun surprise!

Ingredients:

For Cupcake:

3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature
1/3 strong coffee, hot
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 egg plus 1 egg white, at room temperature

For Chocolate Chip Cookie Stuffing:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

For Fluffy Buttercream:

2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (warmer than room temperature)
290 grams confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Desired food coloring gels

Directions:

For Cupcake stuffed with Chocolate Chip Cookie:

Start with the chocolate chip cookies, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and set on the side.
In a bowl to standing mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together at medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy in texture.
On low-medium speed, add in the egg and mix until fully combined.
Add in vanilla extract and then slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined and then add in the chocolate chips.
Using a 1 1/2 tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto foil or parchment paper lined jelly roll pan and set into freezer for at least 30 minutes. (1 1/2 tablespoon ice cream scoop is very specific, so even a 1 tablespoon ice cream scoop or using a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon would work too. Anymore than 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop would be too much for the center filling of the cupcake). Make sure that the cookie dough is frozen to avoid it overcooking and losing that cakey texture in the center. There will be extra cookie dough, so definitely bake off the rest of the dough at 350F degrees for 10-12 minutes.
For the cupcake: in bowl to standing mixer, shift together cake flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, hot coffee, vanilla extract and then the egg plus egg white (Make sure the hot coffee isn’t boiling hot that it will cook the egg).
With a paddle attachment to standing mixer, on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined and if there are some lumps, its okay.
Once the cookie dough is frozen and ready, start placing cupcake liners into the muffin tray. Divide the cupcake batter among the 12 lined cupcake tins.
Take the tray of cookie dough out of the freezer and gently place one frozen cookie dough in the center of the batter for each cupcake tin. The cookie dough will stay afloat, but once it starts to bake it will sink to the middle.
Bake at 350F degrees for 16-18 minutes and allow the cupcakes to cool for about 5-10 minutes in the tray before moving them to the cooling rack.

For Buttercream:

While the cupcakes are cooling, start making the buttercream.
With paddle attachment on standing mixer, combine unsalted butter and confectioner’s sugar on low speed (KitchenAid mixer speed 2) for approximately two minutes.
Add pure vanilla extract and continue to mix for another two minutes.
Add heavy whipping cream and pinch of salt and increase mixer speed to medium-high (KitchenAid mixer speed 6) for another two minutes.
Stop the mixer and scrap down the sides of the bowl and mix on high (KitchenAid speed 8) for a few seconds.
To create different colored cupcake monsters, I divided the buttercream into thirds and played with the different food coloring gels. My favorite that came out was the green with 3 drops of green gel and 1 drop of blue gel.
Ready to be used immediately or can be stored in air tight container at room temperature for up to three days (The buttercream can be stored in refrigerator, but will take time to reach room temperature before it can be used).
For the monster with hair, I used what is called the “grass/fur” tip with small tiny holes on the pipping tip. To decorate, I started from the center and created long strands and looped between from top to bottom until the “hair” built up some volume and continued to loop the buttercream until it was just right…
I loved playing with different tips and techniques, but my favorite was definitely the hairy monster! 🙂
Lastly, finish with candied eyes!!