Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Like Texas Sheet Cake, this recipe is a classic from my childhood.  I think my mom found it in a magazine somewhere, and it became a favorite to bring to school, Girl Scouts, wherever.  In this case, I brought it to a coworker's birthday barbeque.  He loves chocolate chip cookies, but we know how cookies rank with me, so I went with chocolate chip cupcakes instead.


Cupcakes:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
2¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup milk
One 12-oz. pkg. (2 cups) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels, divided
Chocolate Frosting:
1 cup Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels (reserved from cupcakes)
2½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
¼ cup millk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 375° F. In bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt;
set aside. In mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add eggs,
beating well after each. Blend in flour mixture alternately with milk. Stir in ¾ cup Mini
Morsels. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until tops
spring back when lightly pressed. Cool. Spread with Chocolate Frosting. Sprinkle with
remaining ¼ cup Mini Morsels.

Frosting: Melt remaining 1 cup Mini Morsels. Cool. In mixer bowl, beat butter,
confectioner’s sugar, milk, vanilla extract and melted chocolate until creamy.

Cupcakes!

Frosting!

So, for these, since they were for a birthday, I did something I rarely do - I decorated.  I dug an actual pastry bag with an actual fancy tip out from my kitchen somewhere, and got rainbow sprinkles.  They're nothing too spectacular, but they're nicer than what I usually do.

And here's the birthday boy.

These went over well at the party, and the leftovers did very well at work the next day.  And by "did well" I mean "were used to bribe a technician to give me a ride from the parking lot to my office."  Totally worth it.