Chocolate Chip Cupcakes by Martha Stewart, prepared by Barbara "mimi"

Okay, lets just start by saying I am not clever and witty like my daughter so my entries may not be as entertaining. I chose this recipe because it was the first one in the cookbook(pg 22). Erin told me that it was going to be tough not having a mix master and oh my gosh, she was so right. I seriously felt the burn in my arms and was working up a sweat. Lots of ingredients, but very yummy.

I try and get everything possible pre-measured cause I get easily distracted and then screw up.
I first whisked together 3 1/4 cup cake flour, 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.

Then I creamed 1 3/4 sticks of unsalted butter and slowly added 1 3/4 cup sugar

(Notice cheap hand mixer, hence the work out.)

Next I reduced speed to low and added flour mixture alternating with 1 cup of milk. Then in a separate bowl mixed 5 large egg whites at room temp until stiff peaks formed then added the eggs whites to the batter and then tossed in 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips along with a tablelspoon of cake flour. The batter was yummy!

Then I filled the pan up and cooked it for about 22 minutes at 350 degrees.

Although next time I will only bake for 2o minutes.


For the frosting I combined 1/4 cup boiling water and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and stirred until cocoa dissolved. Then I beat with my cheap mixer 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup confection sugar and a pinch of salt. Then reduce speed to low and added 1 pound of semi-sweet chocolate melted and cooled until mixed and then added the cocoa mixture.
My frosting didn't turn out as fluffy as Marthas, it was a kind of like ganache but it was really tasty.


The finished product!


The taste testers

You have to be a dark chocolate lover if you are going to like these. So, I would rate this as medium in the difficult category only because I don't have a mix master. I have a cheap mixer that was getting hot cause it was working so hard.

I gave my cupcake love to some family, took some to work and some to my mom's oncologist's office. Everyone mostly raved about the frosting. What I learned from this cupcake episode, Wear an apron, don't try and do laundry at the same time, and walnuts take really good dipped in the chocolate frosting.... Next up, my sweet mom wants me to make the applesauce spice cupcakes...

I need to fatten her up :)