Milk and Cookies Cupcakes

So I have created a little bit of a monster at my house… a baking monster that is. My little one absolutely LOVES to bake. Every morning she wakes up, looks at me, and asks, what are we going to bake today mommy? Can I let you in on a little secret? I absolutely LOVE it. I always hope she wants to continue to bake/cook with mommy!

These cupcakes… I didn’t really have high hopes for them to be honest. I wasn’t sure about the milk on top (look at the last picture). I wasn’t sure about the cookie. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure about the sweetened condensed milk in the cupcake and icing. A lot of people would probably think these would be the best, but I was quite worried…

I also found it quite interesting that we used a food processor to complete not only the cupcake but also the icing. Who would have thought? Seriously?

By the way, I call it icing. You ice a cake and cupcakes. Especially when you are decorating them. I guess it could be frosting if you are just slapping it on there… I don’t really know. I pretty much always refer to it as icing. What do you call it? Now, if you use the store-bought stuff, that’s frosting from a can… That’s all there is to it.

After last month’s debacle of the cupcakes exploding, these turned out really well. I’m going to claim it was because I had my sous chef helping me and I wasn’t doing them by myself… Think that works?

So another little help/tidbit… You have to put the icing in the fridge. ahem, I tried to ice a cupcake without that fact, didn’t work! So then… I put the icing in the fridge and kind of forgot about it. They suggest 20 minutes. That’s not really long enough, but all day is way too long. Find that sweet spot!

Thoughts: The cupcake was awesome. The icing wasn’t too bad either! Definitely a keeper recipe. In the future, though I’d probably forgo the cookie on top and that splash of milk… just cause. But the verdict was YUM!

Milk-and-Cookies Cupcake

(Food Network Magazine, January/February 2017, Vol 10 number 1, Page 66)

Directions

For the Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Combine butter, 2/3 cup condensed milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt in the food processor. Turn processor on and process ingredients until smooth and slightly thickened, about 2 mins.
3. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Pulse food processor until blended.
4. Drizzle in 1/4 cup whole milk, pulsing a few times. Combine until smooth.
5. Evenly divide the batter among the cupcake liners, fill each about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips on top.
6. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes are golden and spring back when lightly pressed, about 20-25 minutes.
7. Let cupcakes cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
8. Pierce the top of the warm cupcake all over with a fork. Mix the remaining 2 tbsp of condensed milk and 2 tbsp of whole milk; brush evenly over the top of the warm cupcakes.
9. Let cool completely.

For the Icing

1. Place the milk chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until smooth and melted. Let cool slightly.
2. Combine the butter, melted chocolate, 1/4 cup condensed milk, and salt in a food processor. Turn on and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally to make sure it gets completely mixed.
3. Add confectioners’ sugar and process until smooth, about a minute more.
4. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until firm but spreadable, about 30 minutes. Don’t forget this step.

To ice the cupcakes

1. Spread icing on the top of the cupcake, making a small well in the middle.
2. Fill the well with 1/2 to 3/4 tsp sweetened condensed milk.
3. Top with Cookie
4. Eat and enjoy!