Kahlua Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Cupcakes

So we love, love, love to bake...well actually, one of us likes to bake & the other one likes to live with someone obsessed with baking. Either way, we thought it might be fun to share some of the delicious recipes that come out of our apartment. You might be thinking that you misread the title of this post...Kahlua Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Cupcakes...how can a cupcake also contain cookie dough? Trust me, we found a way.

We'd been eyeing a cookie dough cupcake recipe we found on one of our favorite blogs, Kevin & Amanda. But there's really no fun in just copying a recipe so we decided to change it up a bit. Another thing to note is that we in no way desire to be 400 pounds any time soon, so we wanted to adapt a recipe to make a small quantity of cupcakes. Speaking of small quantities, we look for ways to do this all the time. One thing we do, in order to satisfy our sweets cravings, is to make up batches of our favorite cookie dough and then scoop them into 1 tbsp. sized balls and freeze them. You just scoop all the dough into the balls, place them on a cookie sheet or glass plate, put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then take them out and put them in a Ziploc quart sized bag. This lets us just pop 2 or 3 in our toaster oven (350 for about 8-10 minutes) whenever we are dying for some cookies...that or we just sneak into the freezer and eat the cookie dough raw...yummmm.

So anyways, we did this about a week ago with some Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough. We decided we wanted THIS to be the inside of our cupcake. So then we tried to think up a good combo and happened to spot our Kahlua flavored coffee...and that is how these delightful cupcakes came to be. If you follow our directions to the tee, yours should come out just as perfect as ours. From start to finish it took under an hour to make them, and we did it all from scratch:

They came out perfect! In the future we will definitely take pictures, step by step, but we honestly didn't know if these would be a disaster, so we didn't think to take pictures. Now while these are beautiful cupcakes to look at, the part that makes these a winner are what is on the inside...

Oh.my.gosh. These had to have been the best cupcakes we have ever tasted. We can't even describe the intensity and perfection of the flavors mixing together in that first bite. What you see is a Kahlua cupcake, filled with Chocolate, Chocolate Chunk cookie dough, topped with a Kahlua frosting and mini chocolate chips. Seriously to die for.

You really should try these! Especially if you like the whole chocolatey, mocha flavor (:


For the cupcakes:
6 tbsp. butter (at room temperature, soft but not melted)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
a shake or two of salt
1/4 cup milk & coffee mixture
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract



For the cookie dough:
Ours actually came from brownies with an adaption on the side of the box for cookies. (Trader Joes) They also sell a similar cookie in a boxed mix from Pillsbury. Or even get creative and make yours from scratch! Make sure it's in 1 tbsp. scoops and that you freeze it at least one day before. The frozen aspect is what keeps it cookie dough while you bake the cupcakes! or else it would just turn into a cookie filled cupcake.

For the frosting:
6 tbsp. butter (at room temperature, soft but not melted)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup powdered sugar
a shake or two of salt1/2 tbsp. coffee
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract



Now for the directions!


Cupcakes
Set your oven to 350 degrees and let it preheat. Place 6-7 cupcake liners in a metal cupcake pan. In a bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until the batter is creamy and smooth and then add in the egg. Continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir it around a few times to mix it up. Then begin to add these dry ingredients to the sugar, butter and egg while the mixer is on low. Alternate between the dry ingredients and the coffee/milk. Make sure to start with and end with dry ingredients. We brewed the coffee in our keurig on the strongest setting. We then mixed 1/2 coffee, 1/2 milk to get the 1/4 cup. After the mixture is well blended add in the vanilla and mix for another minute or two. Place 3 tbsp. of batter into each liner. This is the perfect amount. Trust us, don't put anymore and don't be generous. The bare 3 tbsp. is PERFECT. Drop a frozen cookie dough ball on the top of each batter cup and press down very slightly. Bake for 16-18 minutes. (We tried 15 at first and it wasn't enough so we would recommend 17...but everyone's ovens are different) One they are finished, let them completely cool before you try and ice them!


Icing
In a bowl using the electric mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and continue to mix until smooth. Mix in the salt, vanilla and coffee and continue with the mixer until it looks well blended. We then take the icing and fill a Ziploc bag, press all the extra air out, and close it. Snip off the end and frost to your heart's delight! Sprinkle with chocolate chips and you're ready to head into Kahlua coma!

Cupcakes and Icing adapted from Kevin & Amanda.