GMA Recipe: Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Click here for
Recent Recipes
(presented in the past few months)

The following are recipes categorized from the archives of recipes broadcast on Good Morning America.

Appetizers

Breakfast

Beverages

Breads
Desserts

Cakes

Cookies

Pies

Other Desserts

Fish

Low Fat/Low Carb

Holidays

Meat

Pasta

Poultry

Quick Recipes

Sandwiches

Salads

Side Dishes

Soups

Vegetables

Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
From Chef and author, Anne Byrn
Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Once upon a time, a family had only two recipes for cupcakes -- chocolate and vanilla. Not any more. Anne Byrn brings endless cupcake variations to America's kitchens in her latest book, "Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor," which includes 135 amazing recipes for kids and grown-ups. A master baker, Bryn is the author of "The Cake Mix Doctor" and "Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor," which have a total of more than 1.8 million copies in print.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

If you use the 18-ounce logs of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough (instead of the one-pound packages of frozen dough), cut them into 24 equal pieces and freeze them before using them in this recipe. It's important to use frozen dough, because you don't want it to bake completely and become a cookie. You want the center to be gooey when you bite into it.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 23 to 27 minutes
Assembly time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
Cupcakes

24 paper liners for cupcake pans (2 1/2-inch size)

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

1 cup whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 package (1 pound) frozen cookie dough

Chocolate Buttercream

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

3 to 5 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Spoon or scoop a heaping 1/4 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two thirds of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.)

Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Cut the frozen dough pieces in half to make 24 pieces. Place a frozen cookie dough piece on top of each cupcake. Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 23 to 27 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for five minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting. They may sink a bit in the center.

While the cupcakes cook, prepare the Chocolate Buttercream.

Place the butter and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is soft and well combined, 30 seconds.

Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar, three tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, one minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, one minute more. Add one to two tablespoons more milk if the frosting is too stiff.

Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops completely. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to three days or in the refrigerator for up to one week. Or freeze them, wrapped in aluminum foil or in a cake saver, for up to six months. Thaw the cupcakes overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Five Tips for Making Buttercream Frosting

About three cups of confectioners' sugar produces the right amount of buttercream frosting for a batch of 24 cupcakes.
Use one tablespoon liquid to one cup sugar to two tablespoons plus two teaspoons butter.
Sift the confectioners' sugar to prevent lumps in the frosting.
Begin with soft butter. If needed, soften the butter in the microwave.
For a white buttercream frosting, begin with unsalted butter. Beat it on medium-high with an electric mixer to lighten the color. Use milk as the liquid.