Cookies and Candids

I made these cupcakes for Sari’s birthday last week. I came up with a million ideas of things to make, but finally settled on Cookie Dough Cupcakes. I had discussed the idea with some friends awhile ago, and then came across a recipe very similar to the one I was planning to make over at Love and Olive Oil. So, with Lindsay’s recipe in mind as well as my own favorite cookie dough and cupcake recipes, I got to work.

I used my own favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, which is great to eat in both raw and baked forms! The recipe is originally from Vegan Planet. I froze teaspoon-sized balls of dough for about 4 hours before baking the cupcakes. I then made my cupcake batter (Golden Vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, with a ton of cinnamon added), filled my liners up halfway with batter, and plopped one frozen ball of dough into the middle of each cupcake. When I baked them, the cookie dough balls baked slower than the cupcakes because they were frozen, so in the end they were good undercooked cookie-ball surprises inside each cupcake. I topped each cupcake with a cookie dough buttercream frosting, and an extra sprinkling of mini-chocolate chips.

Cookie Dough Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix together sugar, syrup, and oil. Add applesauce and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, and salt. Add dry to wet; mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. If you want to bake these (for the best chocolate chip cookies ever!), then form the dough into 1-inch balls (or whatever size you prefer) and bake on greased sheets at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. (I bake them for 6-10, depending on size, because I like them underbaked). If you want to use them inside cupcakes, form the dough into teaspoon-sized balls and freeze for at least 2 hours. Save about 1 cup of cookie dough to use in the frosting.

Cupcake Batter Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon (or to taste)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the almond milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to get good and curdled. Beat together the soy milk mixture, oil, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and mix until no large lumps remain. Fill cupcake liners halfway full, and drop a frozen ball of cookie dough into each cupcake. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
3/4 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons almond milk
3/4 cup cookie dough, room temperature

Cream Earth Balance with electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly add confectioners’ sugar, half a cup at a time, until well-incorporated. Add almond milk and mix until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add cookie dough, approximately 3/4 cup of it, and mix until combined. Taste, and add more cookie dough if you like. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes, and sprinkle with more mini chocolate chips.

Here you can see the dough-y balls inside the cupcake:

I also tried few variations of this cupcake, because I was getting together with a friend who doesn’t like chocolate and wanted to bring her a fun dessert. I used the same cinnamon-vanilla cupcake batter, but didn’t add cookie dough. I topped it with some leftover Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and they got rave reviews!

The other variation I made was that instead of adding a cookie dough ball to the center of the cupcake, I flattened out some cookie dough and placed it on the top of the unbaked cupcake batter, and let the cookie and cupcake bake together. It formed a nice large cookie-top to the cupcake, which looked cute. The cookie dough didn’t have the same raw/dough-y effect that the balls had, but was a nice addition and fun topping for a cupcake.