Moms Need Chocolate Too

Moms out there, ever have an endless week of chaos and sleep deprivation that results in a total burnout and breakdown? Me too. That was last week. I’m finding it harder to get proper rest with baby number two and breastfeeding is definitely more tiring since I can’t nap when baby falls asleep on me after eating. It’s more like put her down in the pack n play and tend to the toddler. It’s hard work. I don’t know how people out there with multiple kids do it. Hats off to them!
Now if anyone reading this has breastfed, you know how hungry you get and how fast that hunger comes on. You want all of the nachos like yesterday or an entire pizza to yourself. Or maybe you love chocolate and could devour an entire cake. Well, maybe not the whole thing… but a large slice. Or, how about a cupcake. A chocolate cupcake, with a chocolate cookie bottom, that’s chewy, and to top it off, fluffy buttercream frosting. If that’s got your mouth watering and you’re saying “yes please!”, you’ve come to the right place. I tried a little experiment the other night after some much needed rest during the day and with a little help from Casey we made an amazing treat. You’ll want to have it all to yourself, so wait until the little ones are in bed so you can enjoy a little piece of heaven that you so deserve.

Start by lining your muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350F. Then begin making the cookie base. The original cookie recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies so I am halving it. With an electric mixer cream 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of softened butter and 1 cup of sugar. Add in 1 egg (room temp) and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat for about 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.

In a separate medium bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder (or 6 Tablespoons), 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well combined.

So that’s the cookie base, its pretty simple! You’ll want to take around a Tablespoon full of cookie dough and place it in the bottom of each liner, pressing it down flat a bit (I know it’s a bit tricky as it’s sticky dough!).

Next, make the chocolate snack cake recipe. Step-by-step found here. Once you’ve made the batter top up the liners to about 3/4 full. You’ll probably end up with about 15 cupcakes in total. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. And then, after about 30-40 minutes of cooling, make the butter cream. Cream 1 cup of softened unsalted butter with an electric mixer. On low speed add in 3-4 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup of cocoa and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Once it’s all incorporated, bring it to medium high speed for 3-5 minutes.

Frost to your desire, I chose to make roses but use your own creativity here!

Note: If you have leftover cookie dough, make 1 inch balls, roll in sugar and place on cookie sheet (lined!) about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, they’re a very chewy cookie.

I have a reel on instagram of making these amazing cupcakes if you want/need more of a visual. Please post a photo and tag/mention me if you make them! I’d love to see how others fair out. I hope they are satisfactory to all your chocolate craving needs, and that they relieve some of that mom life stress (or any other kind of stress).

Triple Threat Chocolate Cupcakes

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 15 cupcakes

Ingredients for Cookie Base

1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (or 6 TBSP total)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup cold coffee or water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F; line muffin tin with paper liners.
Make cookie base first.
Cream together butter and sugar in large bowl.
Add in egg and vanilla.
In a separate medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
Gradually add in the bowl of dry ingredient to the wet.
Place about a tablespoon sized amount of dough in each liner.
Set aside and make cake batter
In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
In a small bow combine oil, vinegar and vanilla; mix well.
Add cup of cold coffee or water and oil mixture to dry ingredients, stirring quickly.
Top up each cupcake liner until about 3/4 full.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool for about 30 minutes, frost with chocolate buttercream.