Cookie Dough Cupcakes
If you’re like me and can’t *not* eat some of the cookie dough before every batch of cookies you bake, these chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes are for you. Fluffy vanilla cupcakes with a raw cookie dough center, topped with creamy chocolate chip cookie dough buttercream. A cookie dough lover’s dream! I’m using my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe as the base, but feel free to swap in my chocolate cupcake recipe, or even take a shortcut with a cake mix.
Ingredient Notes
- Salted butter – I only use salted butter for everything I bake. I find that when using unsalted butter most baked goods end up too sweet and I have to add a lot of salt to balance it out. Most baking resources will tell you to use unsalted as to keep full control over the amount of salt in the recipe, but I have yet to find a brand of salted butter that is too salty. This recipe also calls for softened butter. You can leave your butter out at room temperature for 30 minutes or so, however I prefer to just microwave my butter for 15-18 seconds. You want it just soft enough so when you press with your finger it easily leaves an indent.
- Heat treated flour – For food safety purposes you shouldn’t eat raw flour. To make the flour safe to eat you should heat treat it first. An easy way to do this is to bake your flour slightly before using it. Spread the flour on a lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 5 minutes. Let cool completely before using it.
- Mini chocolate chips – You’ll want to use mini chocolate chips for your edible cookie dough. Alternatively you can use chopped chocolate, you just want to make sure the pieces are small to fit through your piping tip if you plan on piping the buttercream.
- Buttermilk – I use buttermilk in almost all of my cakes and cupcakes so I usually have some store-bought buttermilk on hand, but if you don’t it’s really easy to make with milk and lemon juice. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to a measuring cup and then add milk until you reach 1 c. Let sit for 5 minutes before using in your cake batter.
- Vanilla bean paste or extract – I love using vanilla bean paste in all of my white cake and cupcake bases. I love seeing all the specks of vanilla in the cake and the flavor is great. These are a few of my favorite brands: Nielsen-Massey, Heilala and LorAnn. You can also substitute vanilla extract 1:1
Edible chocolate chip cookie dough
Here we are at the best part – my edible cookie dough recipe! There’s two things to keep in mind when making cookie dough with the intention of eating it raw. For food safety purposes you shouldn’t eat raw eggs or raw flour. In my cookie dough recipe there are no eggs, I simply use milk or cream to get that right consistency. To make the flour safe to eat you should heat treat it first. See the instructions above for heat treating your flour.
To make your raw cookie dough, beat together the butter, white sugar and light brown sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Add vanilla and milk. Slowly mix in the flour, salt and mini chocolate chips. Scoop out 12 balls of dough, about 2 teaspoons in size each. Roll them with your hands to smooth out and place them on a parchment lined plate and freeze until solid, about an hour. Set aside the remaining cookie dough for the buttercream.
Vanilla Cupcakes
For most of my vanilla cake bases I use a technique called reverse creaming. It’s the opposite of creaming which is probably what you’re used to when making cakes. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together first and then mixing in the dry ingredients we are going to reverse that order. Starting with the dry ingredients in the bowl we add chunks of room temperature/softened butter and then end with the wet ingredients. I add the butter one tablespoon at a time and mix on low just until there are no large chunks of butter left. The mixture should resemble wet sand. By coating the butter in flour, this method is reducing the gluten formation and results in a nice, tender crumb.
After adding the butter to the flour mixture, add the eggs and beat to combine. Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla and beat just until the batter is smooth. Line a cupcake pan and fill each halfway full with cupcake batter. Remove the frozen cookie dough balls from the freezer and press one into the center of each cupcake. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Cookie Dough Buttercream
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Mix in the heavy cream (or milk) and vanilla. Add the remaining cookie dough and beat until no large chunks remain. If your buttercream is too stiff to spread or pipe add more cream a tablespoon at a time to get to the desired consistency. Add a pinch of salt to taste.
To frost the cupcakes you can use a small frosting spatula or table knife to spread the cookie dough frosting or you can use a piping bag to pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake. I use a piping bag with no tip, I just cut about 1/2 an inch off the end. Make sure the opening is wide enough so that the chocolate chips don’t get stuck, using mini chocolate chips helps a lot. Top the frosted cupcakes with additional mini chocolate chips and enjoy! I store my cupcakes at room temperature for 1-2 days but they will keep for longer in the refrigerator. I hope you enjoy – these are the perfect cupcake for the cookie dough fans in your life!
Looking for more cookie dough recipes? Check out my Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake.
Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ½ c (1 stick) salted butter, softened
- ¼ c + 2 tbsp sugar
- ¼ c + 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1 c + 2 tbsp flour, heat treated
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ c mini chocolate chips, plus more for topping
- 1 ½ c flour
- 1 c sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ c (1 stick) salted butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 c buttermilk
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp milk or cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- remaining cookie dough, about 1 cup
- Pinch salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and milk. Slowly stir in the flour, salt and mini chocolate chips.
- With a spoon scoop out 12 spoonfuls of dough and roll them into balls (about 2 tsp per ball). Place on a parchment lined plate and freeze until solid, about an hour. Set aside remaining dough for the buttercream.
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl or bowl of your stand mixer. While mixing on low speed add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue mixing until no large chunks of butter remain.
- Add the eggs and beat to combine.
- Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla bean paste and beat just until combined and the batter is smooth.
- Fill cupcake liners half way full. Press a frozen cookie dough ball into the center of each cupcake.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool a few minutes in the pan and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Beat the butter in a stand mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
- Beat in the milk and vanilla.
- Add the remaining cookie dough and beat until no large chunks remain. If your buttercream is too stiff to spread or pipe add more milk to get to the desired consistency. Add a pinch of salt (if desired).
- To frost the cupcakes you can use a small frosting spatula or table knife to spread the buttercream or you can pipe it on the cupcakes. I use a piping bag with no tip, one I just cut the end off. Make sure the opening is wide enough so that the chocolate chips don’t get stuck, using mini chocolate chips helps a lot.
- Top the frosted cupcakes with additional mini chocolate chips.
- I store my cupcakes at room temp for 1-2 days but for longer storage keep in the refrigerator.
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