Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Try to be unhappy when you're eating a cupcake.  Just. . . try.  It's pretty much impossible.  Just looking at this picture makes me giddy.

So last weekend, I finally decided to tackle these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.  They have been on my list for awhile, but I needed to scour the Internet to find the perfect recipe that had the right balance of chocolate chip flavor in the cake, an eggless cookie dough filling and a fluffy brown sugar buttercream.  And spell check really needs to stop telling me "buttercream" isn't a word because it's going to be a reoccurring theme on this blog.  Obviously.

I hit the jackpot with this recipe from Amanda at Fake Ginger.  It has a dense, chocolate chip flecked cake with a filling that tastes exactly like the cookie dough you sneak while baking that you know you

Lemon Quinoa Avocado Chickpea Salad

I bake a lot.  I mean, I really like cake.  But my health is important to me, too.  So to keep everything nice & balanced, I have a few of these recipes up my sleeve. 

I found the original recipe over on The Diva Dish thanks to seeing a photo of it on Pinterest.  The colors drew me in and I knew by reading the ingredient list that it was going to be a winner.  One of those things where you obsess about the recipe for days and buy 20 avocados in preparation for it because they are ripe for exactly five minutes and you keep having to run to the grocery store to buy more.  Just me? Okay then.  The original recipe called for cilantro, but I am not a big fan so I simply omitted it.  I didn't miss it at all, but feel free to toss some in for an extra layer of flavor if that's more your style.