Guess what’s back!!  You guessed it.  Another round of chocolate cream cheese cupcakes.  You cannot go too many months without baking these again if you can even survive that long.  It is a sun-filled day today so I thought I would share with you a baking recap from a few nights ago.  I made these last year at the zesty in laws in the summer and they are always a huge hit.

Can you really beat chocolate, cream cheese and to top it all off in bite size cupcake form?

So before we begin with the amazing recipe and picture overload

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Topping

• 8 Oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Dry Batter

• 1 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt

Liquid Items

• 1 Cup Water
• 1/3 Cup Canola Oil
• 1 Tsp. White Vinegar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees and spray muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. Stir the cream  cheese to a creamy, smooth consistency.  Add egg, sugar and salt and stir  (blend) (cream) to uniform smooth consistency.













3. Stir in the chocolate chips.



4. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl,  form a “well ” and set aside.









5. Combine liquid ingredients  in another  bowl.





6. Stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.  Be sure not to over mix.





7. Spoon chocolate mixture into muffin tins until about 2/3 full.



8. Top each muffin with a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture (Do note the spoon technique).





9. Bake small muffin tins for  9 -11 minutes and regular muffin tins for 20-25 minutes.





10. Remove from oven and let cool.



11. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If you need to take these special treats with you to a party, you can make 1.5 times the batter portion. You will have lots of cream cheese topping.  Also note that these cupcakes freeze well and are good warm or cold.

So now after all this, I have to hear what you think about these cupcakes.  When you pop one in your mouth you automatically step away from reality and fall in love with the texture and flavor.  Lately I have been hooked on home juice with chocolate treats.  I know it sounds crazy – but I have been trying out different juicer recipes for the last couple of weeks and I think I am addicted.  Usually I am a milk and chocolate guy all the way.

Have a great Friday and be on the lookout for another great treat from our baking excursion the other night.

Take care

zesty

Yes – you heard it right!  Remember the cookies you used to eat as a child, I called them spider cookies.  You didn’t have to bake them you just whipped them up and devoured them.  Well, on the weekend Zesty Jr. and I played a little spin on and created a similar cookie with a slightly different ingredient – OATMEAL.

Now don’t kid yourself or get me wrong here, I didn’t invent this cookie by any stretch however I have never made this cookie before Sunday.  Oh and I do have a huge tip to share with you regarding this later on down the post that I hope you follow.

So I guess we should talk cookie here for a second!  These literally take longer to eat than they do to make.  I am not kidding – you will see when I roll out the instructions.  These have great potential as a weight gain product if anyone is looking to go that route.  They also can become extremely addictive.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups White sugar
• 1/2 Cup cocoa
• 1/4 Cup butter
• 1/2 Cup milk
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla
• 3 Cups Quick-cooking oatmeal

Method

1. Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan.



2. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one minute.



3. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and oatmeal.







4. Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper.



5. Let cool for at least 30 minutes ( I was a bit premature on the timing )



6. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I strongly suggest using parchment paper on the baking sheet.  I opted for wax paper… not sure why but it was not a pretty scene when I went to remove the cookies (perhaps a little to early)

I guess one piece of advice I can give you with this cookie is too chill it before eating but that is just personal preference.  The consistency is superb while chilled and they do come off the parchment paper even easier.  For storage I just put them in a plastic container for maybe 2 hours until they were gone   I may have dropped too large of dollop for some but really, can you ever have a cookie that is too big?  And these are healthy – they have oatmeal in them!

Alright, just because I am all about speed as of late – do you remember when I made the 90 second Macaroon.  It was a pretty big success but I think these bad boys today may even top em.  Later on in the week, I may have some pretty exciting news to share with you but until then – I will keep it zipped.

Take care

zesty