These Small-batch Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes are moist and decadent chocolate cupcakes smothered with a creamy, dreamy homemade cookie dough frosting. If you’re looking for something to liven up a boring week, these cupcakes are just what you’re looking for.
Hey you, yes you. How has your week been going? It’s Thursday, so that means you’ve probably been working hard and getting things done all week. Been responsible and reasonable and totally respectable. And isn’t it all kind of awful? Is it starting to get to you, like an itch under your skin?
Friend, I have just the antidote for that sort of mundane: Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes.
Tell me those words don’t send a tiny shiver of delight down your spine.
(No, don’t tell me. If it didn’t, I don’t want to know that there’s no joy left in you.)
This tiny batch (makes just four) of these ridiculous, delightful little cupcakes is exactly the sort of thing you need at the end of a long work week. They’re decadently delicious, just on the right side of impractical, and shockingly easy to make.
They’re made with my favorite small-batch chocolate cupcake base, a base which is so soft and moist and incredibly chocolatey that you could happily eat it plain right out of the oven, but don’t because you need something to put this cookie dough frosting on.
And this frosting, OMG THIS FROSTING, it tastes like you made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, magically added a bit of creaminess to it and piled it on a cupcake. It’s the dream frosting for those of us who spent our childhoods begging to lick the cookie dough bowl.
Together with the rich chocolate cake, it’s A LOT. Like, pour yourself a glass of milk or coffee and settle in for a good time, a lot, because it’s a cupcake to eat slowly, savor, and lick the frosting from your fingers when it’s gone.
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Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes Recipe Tips
- Not feeling the chocolate cupcake base? You could make vanilla cookie dough cupcakes using this frosting on my Small-batch Vanilla Cupcakes recipe (maybe throw some chocolate chips in the batter too).
- This frosting contains flour. If you’re concerned about using raw flour in your frosting, I give instructions in the recipe for cooking it first, but this does change the flavor of the frosting slightly as part of the taste of cookie dough is the raw flour taste.
- Properly softened butter is a MUST for the frosting recipe. If your butter is not soft enough, the ingredients will not mix completely and you will end up with little flour lumps in your frosting. You want butter that is not melted but soft enough to easily squish with a finger. This shouldn’t be a problem during the summer, but in cold kitchens during the winter, you may need to cut the butter into cubes and place somewhere warm for a couple minutes.
- Finally, I recommend using a handheld electric mixer for the frosting. Small-batch frostings can usually be made by hand in a pinch, but I suspect you’ll have a hard time getting the flour to mix completely in this recipe if doing it by hand.
Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes (Small-batch)
These Small-batch Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes are moist and decadent chocolate cupcakes smothered with a creamy, dreamy homemade cookie dough frosting. If you're looking for something to liven up a boring week, these cupcakes are just what you're looking for.
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- 4 cupcake liners
- Handheld electric mixer
- Fine mesh strainer or sifter
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 2 tablespoons (1oz) unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons (21g) chopped semi-sweet chocolate
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup (30g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (11g) cocoa powder sifted if lumpy
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk any percentage
- 2 tablespoons hot coffee or hot water
Cookie Dough Frosting
- 1/2 cup (60g) all-purpose flour measured by weight or using the spoon and sweep method*
- 1/4 cup (2oz) unsalted butter softened (very soft but not melted)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (75g) brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk plus more to taste
- 1/4 cup (42g) semi-sweet miniature chocolate chips
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a cupcake pan with 4 liners.
- To a small, microwave-safe bowl, add butter, chopped chocolate, and vegetable oil. Microwave for 15 seconds and stir until smooth, microwaving for an additional 15 seconds if necessary. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
- To a medium bowl, add sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla, and whisk until well-combined. Pour in slightly cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until uniform in color. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour in milk and hot coffee (or hot water) and whisk until smooth. The batter will be thin.
Divide the batter between prepared cupcake cups, filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 16 to 19 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.
- Cool cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting, 15 to 20 minutes.
Cookie Dough Frosting
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread flour out over parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.
In a medium bowl, use a handheld electric mixer to cream well-softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add vanilla and beat until well-combined.
Sift flour over the top of the butter and sugar mixture and add salt. With the mixer on medium, mix until flour is completely incorporated, at least 1 minute. Frosting will look like crumbs.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the milk and beat, starting on low working up to high until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
If frosting is too stiff, add milk by the teaspoon until frosting reaches your desired consistency.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
Cover cupcakes using rounded spoonfuls of frosting. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Correct flour measurement is very important in this recipe. For best results, measure by weight or the Spoon and Sweep Method (stir the flour in your container to fluff it up and then spoon it into your measuring cup, sweep excess off with the flat of a knife).
Frosting Adapted From I Am Baker
That frosting is so fluffy! And I love that there are no eggs in the frosting..These cupcakes are what dreams are made of!!
Thanks, Deepika!!
This is amazingly perfect for when you’re not in the mood for complete mere sweet, but just a taste!
Exactly! Thanks, Kaitie!
that is so sinful and i am drooling over it… i know my girls will love it.
I hope they enjoy them, Sonal!
I’m drooling! These cupcakes look so delicious. What an creative idea to make cookie dough frosting for it. I also love that this recipe makes 4 cupcakes! Perfect for my family.
Thanks, Marie!
Oh my what wonderful looking cakes, great pictures too!
Thank you, Brian!
I love how moist these cupcakes look! I could definitely do with a few right now with my coffee!
Thanks, Thanh! They do go really well with coffee. 😉
Tracy, your Cupcake is killing me, I want to grab it right now. it looks so delicious!
LOL Thanks, Swati!!
No, these cupcakes didn’t send a tiny shiver of delight down my spine. They straight up sent the LARGEST JOLT OF JOY through my entire being!!!! OMG, I’m dying. Chocolate cupcakes with COOKIE DOUGH FROSTING?!? I am pinning the living daylights out of this recipe. Time permitting I’m hoping to make them this weekend before I go on vacation.
I also love the fact the recipe only makes 4 cupcakes. I often don’t make these types of sweets bc I’m known to overindulge. This recipe allows me to give into temptation without overdoing it!
LOL, THANK YOU, Christina! 😉
The cupcakes look stunning Tracy! I always love baking in small batches so that the left overs don’t end up stuffing my refrigerator!
Thanks, Neha!!
Can you please suggest how to increase the measurements for 6 muffins..
Tried your one banana muffin recepie last week at midnight. Was craving for some warm cake while it was snowing/ Freezing outside and accidentally found your page. Absolutely loved it!!. I also dumped in some walnuts. Amazing..
I can’t wait until 6 muffins recepie to come along if that’s possible. For now, I have to get back to my midnight baking . Please continue to share your small batch recepies.
Thanks,
Monica
Hi, Monica, I’m so glad you enjoyed the banana muffins! As for adjusting the recipes to make six, you can easily change the yield of all the recipes on the site by clicking on (or hovering over if you’re on desktop) the blue number of servings in the recipe. Slide the slider to the number you’d like to make. And when it calls for 1 & 1/2 egg whites, you can usually just replace that with an entire egg. Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot.. Midnight baking experiment session two was successfully accomplished fo dark chocholate muffins. Ummm loved them.. wish I could send you my pictures.
Is there an Instagram account for your fans to upload our projects..
LOL so glad you enjoyed them, Monica! And I don’t have an Instagram account for reader’s photos (though I love that idea!), but you can use the hashtag #bakingmischief if you upload them to your account. Or you can always email me, [email protected], I LOVE seeing recipe photos. 🙂
I was on a time crunch and used a chocolate boxed cake mix to make the cupcake, add then followed the instructions for the frosting. It was divine! Everyone loved it. Can’t wait to try the full recipe!
Yay! So glad everyone enjoyed them!
Great recipe! I was cleaning out my freezer and found some peanut butter frosting I had frozen. The four cupcakes were just enough. I used hot water instead of coffee and I sprinkled some mini chocolate chips on top of batter. Cupcakes were delicious and perfect with my leftover frosting. Will definitely make these again.
So glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Laurel! And I was *just* thinking I should do peanut butter frosted version of these. Now I definitely need to try it. 😉