Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I found this basic cupcake recipe, in Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen.  These cupcakes are made from scratch and have less oil and sugar than a box mix. 

They cooked up really pretty and the batter was so thick that chocolate chips didn't sink to the bottom of the batter.  That is a problem I have had with box mixes, as in my Chocolate Chip Cake here.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix in a large stand mixer.  Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the beaten eggs and vanilla gradually to the creamed mixture.  In a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, and chocolate chips and mix.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the cream mixture.  Add the milk to the mixture and mix until you have a smooth batter that drops off of the spoon easily.  More milk can be added to get to the right consistancy.  Put the batter into muffin cups sprayed with a baking spray.  Fill 2/3 of the way full.  Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 9-10 minutes until golden brown.  Let cool on a wire rack.  

Chocolate Icing

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sift the confectioners' sugar and cocoa in a mixing bowl and combine.  Put the butter, sugar , and water into a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat and pour it at once into the dry ingredients.  Mix in the vanilla.  Mix until smooth and glossy, it thickens and dulls as it cools.  Best to pipe onto the cupcakes when a little warm when it cools to room temp it will be to hard to adhere to cupcakes.

Recipes adapted from: The Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen

Yields: 12 cupcakes

     

These recipes are adapted from Ms. Allen's original recipes.  They will give you good results.  The cupcakes are a lot like muffins, there isn't as much oil and that makes for a moist crumb on the inside of the cupcake but the exterior has a crisp shell.  They are drier than what we are used to as a traditional cupcake.  I would also recommend not over beating the batter.  I think mine are a little too mixed; I was whipping the batter like a box mix, but they still tasted good.  The guys in the house really liked them.  The flavor was reported to be really good.  The icing was reported to be chocolate fudge tasting.  I like cooking from scratch when I can because I can control what I am feeding my family when I know what is in the mix.  

Darina Allen's cookbook is full of timely classics that are basic and easy to prepare.   

Sherry
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