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Semi-homemade meets a good cause-I’m so rocking Sandra Lee style today with a tub of school fund-raising cookie dough.
Some of you may be ready to click away, but do me a favor…keep reading because the end result it worth your time. I’m typically not a big fan of using premade cookie dough, but I am a fan of taking action when it comes to raising money for schools. Whether it’s stale popcorn, hideous wrapping paper or double chocolate chunk cookie dough, if it’s for a school, I’m writing a check!
So with a giant tub of cookie dough in one hand and my mixer primed for some action, the pre-made dough ends up being the surprise star in these adorable Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.
These glorious gems of chocolate goodness are topped with my favorite vanilla buttercream frosting recipe, mini chocolate chips, and a cute little cookie. Not only did I top these Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes with a miniature cookie, I also baked a little ball of dough into their centers! As you can see from the photo, the cookie bakes up beautifully inside the cupcake and it almost takes on the fluffy texture of the cake that surrounds it. Genius, right? Well I certainly thought so, although I’m betting I’m not the first to have this cookie dough cupcake epiphany!
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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso granules
1/2 cup warm water
For the Frosting
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Directions:
For the Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine instant espresso granules and warm water, stirring until dissolved. Add espresso mixture to the cake batter and stir until fully incorporated.
3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well.
4. Measure .4 ounce balls of cookie dough (about 1 teaspoon) and drop a ball of dough into each cupcake. Be sure to use a spoon to completely cover the dough ball with batter.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick entered into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.
For the Frosting
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar, and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
For the Garnish
1. Garnish your cupcakes with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and a mini chocolate chip cookie.
2. To make the mini cookies, I simply measured out 24 .4 ounce (about 1 teaspoon) balls of dough and baked them according to package directions (about 8-10 minutes). Allow mini cookies to cool completely before adding them to the cupcakes.
Notes:
- If you are choosing to garnish your cupcakes, make sure you do this immediately after you frost your cupcakes. Once the top layer of the buttercream hardens, nothing will stick to the frosting.
- If you do not have instant espresso powder, you can simply omit it from the recipe. You can typically find this product in the coffee aisle of most supermarkets.
Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
Do you only mix the devils food cake mix and pudding mix dry ingredients? Or do you follow the directions on the box(es) and add the additional ingredients?
Thank you.
Christine-
Don’t follow the directions on the boxes, just the directions in the recipe. You will be using the dry mixes. Hope this helps!
-Jamie
hi, i made this recipe yesterday and it tasted great! but the only thing was that the cupcakes caved in completely after the baking was done, i was so mad. i used a devil’s food cake mix that i realized had allready pudding in the mix could have that been the problem? please reply because i want to make these again but need an answer to
Bobby-
I find that stuffing cupcakes can create a small divot about the size of a quarter. I typically don’t worry about it though, because it gets covered with frosting. If the divot is bigger than that, your cupcakes may have been underbaked. Sorry I am not much of a help.
-Jamie
I just found these (and your site thanks to Amber @Bluebonnets) and made these for my son’s class yesterday and this is what his teacher emailed me:
Those cupcakes were insane!!!! Wow! Best cupcake I’ve ever had!
So, they were pretty good!
Mary Kay-
Woo-Hoo – so happy to hear that were a raging success! Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts on the recipe. Have a great day.
-Jamie
We made these, but our frosting turned out really runny and the tops caved in when we took them out of the oven… other than that they were awesome!
Lauren-
Sometimes when you stuff anything into a cupcake you’ll get a little divot. This doesn’t bother me too much because it gets covered with all that yummy frosting. No idea why the frosting would be runny though, unless you added a bit too much liquid. Hopefully they tasted good!
-Jamie
I saw these, saw a ton of people said they looked good but hardly anyone commented on how this exact recipe was. I took a leap and made them for my twins birthday party and guess what? they were insannnnnne! these made me a rock star to quite alot of kids, and adults as well! thank u!!
Jeannine-
Thanks so much for reporting back on your experience with the cupcakes. I am thrilled to hear that they worked out so well for you.
-Jamie
I was wondering, would this recipe would work just as well as a sheet or round cake?
Jessica-
I have not tried this recipe as a sheet cake, but I am thinking it would work just fine. I would follow the baking time recommendation on the back of the cake mix box for an approximate cook time. Hope this helps.
-Jamie
I made these yesterday, but the center of my cupcakes sunk in. Is there a reason for this and how can I prevent this from happening?
I think because the cake is so dense, with the sour cream & pudding, it does tend to sink a little. However, once you put the frosting on the top, you will never know! Just fill in the sunken area before going around with the frosting.
We just hosted a Milk & Cookies party for our 4 year old. I used your cupcake decoration as inspiration (via Pinterest). Thanks!
Milk & Cookie Theme Birthday Party
This looks really good….Cant wait to make them:)
I made these for my daughter’s party! Everyone thought they were totally delish and gourmet! I love your recipes!!