Inspirational Movies and Cupcakes!

I have done pretty much nothing this weekend, except for watch TV and make food. I have been so bored! Well, one of the movies I watched was called 5th Quarter. I basically bawled the entire movie, its that good. It's all about a family that loses their 15 year old son in a car accident, and the boy's older brother goes on to play an amazing season of football in his little brother's name and memory. The older brother's motto through the movie is "play for two". This movie just made me that much more grateful that I have my family, alive and accessible to me. I love my family so much!

I also did some cooking and baking this weekend. My ward is having an activity tomorrow night, so that we can do ecclesiastical endorsements, and the activity is that we are basically playing Bunco and bringing food that we learned to make either from pinterest or a mission. Since I haven't exactly gone on a mission yet, I was stuck with pinterest recipes...however, that wasn't bad at all. Pinterest is basically my favorite website of all time, except for facebook and google, of course!

So the recipe that I chose is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Even the name sounds fantastic! This recipe comes from the blog Annie's Eats, and here's the url for the actual blog..http://annies-eats.com/2010/04/01/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cupcakes/. Here's the recipe, below, so that you, too, can experience heaven on earth. Careful, though, these cupcakes take almost 2 boxes of butter (or margarine), so don't eat too many. You'll get fat.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting: 
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract

For garnish:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

• To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
• Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.
• To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.
• To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.
• Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.