Cookie Bottomed Vanilla Cupcakes

Hullo, my Pixels!

I wasn't entirely sure how these were gonna turn out, as I've been trying new recipes a lot recently, but I was very happy with the overall result. Also, I'd love to know if there's any specific recipes you'd love for me to try and attempt. Good crumble recipes would really be appreciated, too, as I wanna make one of them soon!

INGREDIENTS

Cookie layer:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)
• 1tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 1/4tsp salt
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Cake layer:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup milk

Frosting:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
• 1tbsp vanilla extract
• 1tbsp milk, if needed

METHOD

1. Gather together all of the ingredients and preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Cookie layer//

2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside. I finally have a sift as well, hooray!

3. Beat the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Mix in the other bowl of dry ingredients before folding in the chocolate chips.

4. Line a muffin tray with your chosen cases. As you can see, I don't have two deep muffin trays, but my silicone cupcake cases stood perfectly in the shallow tray, so disaster averted! Press about 1 1/2tbsp of cookie dough into the bottom of each cake case - enough to create a solid cookie base.

Cake layer//

5. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, which should be about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, then beat until combined.

6. Combine the flour and baking powder, then add half of the mix until fully combined. After adding the milk, mix in the remaining dry ingredients.

7. Drop the cake batter on top of the cookie dough layer in the cupcake cases. The easiest way to do this is to use an ice cream scoop as it falls out a lot easier than with spoons.

8. Bake the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes, making sure a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the cakes.

9. And the cakes are done! For some reason, the silicone-cased cupcakes went a bit wonky, not sure why, but they looked fine out of the cases. Of course, this isn't the end, because what cake is completely finished without a bit of frosting?!

10. To make the frosting, first cream the butter until smooth, and then slowly add in the icing sugar. Mix in the vanilla and then beat the frosting until the desired consistency is reached. Add the milk if it's too thick.

11. Frost the cupcakes with any method you like. I've basically given up with using piping bags because I'm appalling, so I just spread it on with a spoon or knife.

12. For even more yumminess, cut a chocolate chip cookie in half and stick it into the frosting on top. I know for some people this might seem ridiculous and over the top, but I felt like it was necessary.

These turned out so wonderful; the fact that they're half cookie base and half vanilla cake means you can never get bored of the flavours. They also really get better the 'older' they get. The cookie base seems to harden a lot more and develop a better, crisper flavour compared to when they're freshly baked.

Sommer

♥