When I moved to Washington State recycling was everywhere. Not so much in Arizona…like hardly at all. For me to recycle I had to box and bag up all my stuff and haul it to a recycling center that was no where near me. But here, we recycle (though not Styrofoam…grrr). Anyway, it’s all very convenient and they come to your house twice a month, simple enough.
We are not allowed beer in the locker room where I play. Beer and hockey go hand in hand…or hand to mouth as the case may be with the beer. So most teams sneak in “root” beer every week when they play. We just have to make sure that the cans disappear before we leave, well they leave ( I would never partake in drinking beer after a game 😉 ). This somehow brought us to the conversation one time of recycling.
I learned through this conversation just how lazy one of the guys on my team is. He recycles everything…including stuff he isn’t suppose to…like trash. He literally throws trash into the recycling bin. Why you ask (because I did)? Because he wants to make sure the guy at the recycling plant has a job. And if he does to good of a job sorting out and cleaning his recyclables then he is putting that guy out of a job. Men are strange.
Speaking of recycling I had to do some with those cookie truffles. The batch makes like 100 and so I needed to do something with them. A nice simple chocolate cupcake with a happy little surprise in the center. Some would say go with chocolate frosting but I felt that the Brown Sugar Buttercream complimented the cookie dough truffle. I forgot to dust mine with flour before putting them in so they all sank to the bottom, tasty all the same though.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
12 TBSP unsalted butter , at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
3 large eggs (room temp, separated)
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 cups milk
1 ½ tsp vanilla
cookie dough truffles
Grease and flour two muffing/cupcake pans.
Sift dry ingredients and set aside.
Using medium speed of mixer, cream butter until smooth.
Add sugar and beat until fluffy for 3 minutes.
In separate bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored for 2 minutes.
Add beaten yolks to butter mix and beat well.
Add chocolate, mixing well.
Add dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with milk and vanilla.
With each addition, beat until well mixed, but do not overbeat.
Using a spatula, scrape down bowl, making sure ingredients are well blended and batter is smooth.
In separate bowl, beat egg whites on high to soft peaks.
Gently fold into batter.
Scoop batter into muffin pans, filling them up 1/3 of the way. Add a cookie dough truffle to the middle of the cupcake batter. Cover with another 1/3 of cake batter.
Bake at 350º for 18-22 minutes.
Cool in pans 10 minutes.
Brown Sugar Buttercream
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
4- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating for about 2 minutes after each addition, until icing reaches desired consistency; you may not need to add all the sugar. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Adapted From More From Magnolia by Allysa Torey
patsyk says
Love the surprise inside! Yum! I have to remind my husband to recycle all the time… he does it, but grudgingly.
MyKitchenInHalfCups says
Oh bring on the Brown Sugar Buttercream. That really is a wonderful icing! These are pretty cute with the cookie dough truffles no matter if they’re on top or bottom.
anna says
I love the idea of cookie dough cupcakes. Yum!
Monica H says
What’s up next? Chocolate chip cookie Dough Ice Cream!
Please make it happen 🙂
Whitney says
That is bizarre. Please say he isn’t putting trash in paper recycling because that can ruin the whole batch.
Tracey says
Those look yummy! Great photos! I love recycling – it’s such a simple thing to do and really makes me feel like I’m doing something good.
Wendy says
I love surprises in the middle. And cookie dough? Even better.
Rosa says
Here, there is a lot of recycling going on…
These cupcakes look extremely scrumptious!
Cheers,
Rosa
Elyse says
I think the brown sugar buttercream was an AWESOME choice. I can’t wait to make these cupcakes (and of course, the cheesecake, for that matter). And, I am in total agreement: boys are so strange. I guess it’s oddly considerate of him to keep the recylcing guys employed/annoyed?
Meeta says
men’s logic i would say – strange! here in germany we have to recycle everything and they make it very convenient by picking up most of the stuff at home!
these cupcakes look great. i love the brwon-butter frosting – especially after the DB challenge!
clumbsycookie says
That’s about the best recycling ever!
Melinda says
Love the first picture with the captured chocolate swizzle dripping.
Beautiful little cupcakes! Nothing to recycle after that baby has been eaten!
Kathy says
I’m new to this web site.
Is there a cookie dough truffle recipe?
If so, I’d love it and will make these cupcakes very soon.
Thanks
Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary says
That first picture is awesome.
When my husband 1st moved here from NM I was forever taking bottles and cans out of the trash. Now we have a friend that doesn’t recycle so it’s back to trash pickin again. Grrr!
Amanda says
Wow those look wonderful!!
VeggieGirl says
Hooray for recycling the cookie truffles!! 😀
Patricia Scarpin says
That has to be my favorite kind of recycling, Pea. 😀
What a wonderful way of using truffles.
Recycling is still taking baby steps here in Brazil (as well as many other things), but I’m glad it’s being done anyway.
nina says
Our school is big on recycling and they run competitions for the children to create an awareness from a young age!
I love this cupcake recipe…..sinful!!
Erin says
What yummy looking cupcakes! I have been thinking about brown sugar frosting lately, so I will have to try this out 🙂
Maria says
What a nice surprise inside. Great job at recycling! The cupcakes look incredible!
elly says
Wow, these are awesome. Mmm. Recycling is SO much easier at my place now that they have the blue dumpsters in our alley. I love it.
Culinarywannabe says
Where my parents live in GA, you can’t recycle. Literally, the nearest plant is over an hours drive. It’s so sad! That is so weird that he thinks by being irresponsible he is keeping the recycling people at work.
Peabody says
Kathy- If you just read the previous post, the recipe for the truffles is in there.
Nutmeg Nanny says
Fantastic idea! Personally I love anything with cookie dough but it makes it even more delicious hidden inside a cupcake.
Also just to add to your “men are strange” comment. My father refuses to use self check-out at the grocery store because he thinks they are taking jobs from other people. I guess he has a point but at the same time I don’t have time to stand in those lines sometimes!
heather says
That’s weird how long ago did you move away from AZ? We definitely had one of those big blue garbage cans for recycling in the late 90’s. We even get fined if we get caught throwing our trash in with our recycling. I hear that Washington’s system for recycling is a bit more hi-tech than most states though.
Anyway, I am trying to cut back on the sweets but seriously cookie dough truffles are going to break me!
Lynn says
Great way to recycle. Cupcakes are wonderful, even better with such a great, hidden surprise.
howtoeatacupcake says
Verrry smart way to use those! Cupcakes are always a great idea!
Alisa - Frugal Foodie says
I am with you in the southwest (originally from the northwest), and yes, recycling here sucks, royally.
You are really tempting me with those cupcakes, though I think I will go after the frosting and cookie dough truffles first! Hmm, is it possible to make brown sugar frosting truffles?
Kate says
I’ve been pondering how perfect your pictures of food with a bite taken out are. I’ve tried to do this myself, but I must be less talented at taking pretty bites, because my photos always look kind of pathetic.
Stephanie says
That frosting looks spectacular!
Mrs. L says
While this looks awesome I doubt there would be any leftover cookie dough truffles to recycle….
Cakespy says
I’m with Mrs. L: There were leftover cookie dough truffles???
That aside though, what a beautiful way to repurpose something sweet: make it even sweeter and awesomer. I love this type of recycling!
Peabody says
Heather- I moved here in 04. Not all cities had recycling yet. Plus if you lived in an apartment, they have none. I lived in an apartment. When you live in an apartment up here…you recycle.
kimi says
not to be incredibly annoying, but if you talk to that guy again let him know that if his regular trash contaminates whatever can be recycled – then it all ends up in the trash. Case in point: pizza boxes with stuck on cheese or other food not only gets thrown away but so do the papers or whatever was next to it that is considered contaminated. I think I read this in Martha Stewarts Living hahahahaha – but its true!! Also if you leave the plastic caps on plastic bottles then the whole bottle get thrown away (apparently in this jobless economy they cant create that job were someone takes the caps off of bottles so they actually get recycled). And yes, I really did just type all of this and I AM going to post it 🙂
Cathy-wheresmydamnanswer says
Love the little gem in the middle – anything with cookie dough is a winner in my house – Actually anything food related is!! Cheers
cindy says
way to recycle! these look amazing.
Pinky says
My old housemate said a similar thing about recycling. Except he didn’t take the recycling out of the trash, since he’d seen people who work for the sanitation company doing it, he figured he’d let them do their job instead of sorting his own trash. Men are strange indeed
CookiePie says
Oh YUM — cookie dough + cupcake = heavenly!!! And that frosting looks too yummy. Now THAT’S recycling! 🙂
Elle says
Would never have thought to put cookie dough into cupcakes – wild! The buttercream looks so pretty, too. Who knew recycling could be so delicious?
Julie says
Oh my, those look divine! How could a cookie + cupcake be anything but delicious?
Jesse says
Wooow, these have got to be the most original cupcakes I have ever come across. Whoever heard of cookie dough truffles? They sound amazing, yum!
Katrina says
Oh my goodness, my favorite thing in the world (to eat) is hidden in these cupcakes! First cheesecake and now this! Diet schmiet, I always say! Awesome.
Takeaways says
Cookiedough galore!! Is there anything you can not “cookiedough”? Yes, I have made it into a verb, in fact, you just made it into a verb.
Coming up next, cookiedough with cookiedough inside.
dawn says
would you believe our town finally caught onto recycling just 2 years ago? sad huh?
I love that brown sugar frosting…how very clever 😉
Holly says
I’m too busy drooling to come up with anything clever to say. Yum.
Hannah says
This has got to be the most delicious method of recycling by far! Damn, do those look amazing (especially that first action-shot picture!)
Lang says
Three cheers for recycling. Your photos are gorgeous. How did you get the dangle just right in that top one???
Rico says
Looks so light and creamy so delicious and tempting that I would fancy one now
Aimee says
These photos belong on the cover of a cookbook! They look pretty prefect and I’d be happy with about three right now.
Vera says
I love surprises, especially such delicious ones! Very cute idea!
Juliana says
I love the idea of cookie dough for cupcake…the pictures are great!
Kevin says
More baked in cookie dough greatness!!
lori says
I grinned when I saw that this had a surprise center of my favorite thing in the world — cookie dough! Reminds me of the cookie dough ice cream cake I made last week.
Btw, i like the new layout of your site. The banner is catchy. Well done!
Dusty St. Amand says
These look AMAZING!
Christina says
Wow! You continue to amaze!
sweetie says
hi peabody
i’m interested in trying this recipe but i’m curious about 2 things:
1) is the brown sugar in both recipes packed?
2) do you freeze the cookie dough truffles so that they don’t bake in the center of the cupcake?
thanks!
Peabody says
1. Brown sugar is only packed in recipes when they indicate it.
2. I did not freeze them, but you can.
Tommy says
When I made the brown sugar frosting it came out pretty grainy. Is this just how the frosting turns out, or should I have blended it more or done something else? Also, I really love your blog! I found it yesterday and have been going through your whole site finding some great recipes and stories!
Vera Zecevic – Cupcakes Garden says
I love cookie dough in every version so I’ve featured these yummy cupcakes on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.