Name: Chocolate Cupcake Tops (aka Frosted Chocolate Cookies)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 3 dozen small cookies
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached; 2 tablespoons cocoa (I like Hershey's brand Special Dark-a blend of natural and Dutched cocoa); 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup butter (softened); 1 cup sugar; 1 egg; 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted; 3/4 cup buttermilk or unflavored yogurt; 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli bittersweet chips but semi-sweet chips would also work if you like your chocolate sweeter); 1/3 cup sour cream + another tablespoon; 1 cup powdered sugar

Chocolate Cupcake Tops (aka Frosted Chocolate Cookies) will remind you of the top of a chocolate cupcake topped with a ganache-like frosting.

Like parents with more than one child, my affection for frosted cookies multiplies with each new recipe added to my collection.

This whole obsession with frosted cookies started with the ugly, irregularly shaped, frosted cinnamon cookies my Grandma baked for us and stored in her metal-lined bread drawer. I loved them almost as much as I loved her. She loved me, too, though she didn’t speak it, even when I was ugly and rather irregular myself.

Now that I have a food blog and a grandson of my own, I’m on a quest to build the world’s largest frosted cookie recipe collection. It’s on my bucket list–if I had one–to try all varieties of frosted cookies before I die. It may not be the most noble calling but it’s easier and more fun (and way more likely) than climbing Mount Everest or feeding all the hungry children of the world. Perhaps I’m just hoping my grandson will someday have fond memories of his grandma like I do. That’s a worthy goal, isn’t it?

One early morning on my way to work recently, I dropped off some reject cookies at my friend’s house. Joan later reported they tasted like the top of a frosted cupcake. Yes! She’s absolutely right. These cookies are just like little chocolate cakes with a rich chocolate frosting. Throwing a little instant espresso and Dutch process cocoa into the dough makes these babies dark and flavorful.

The secret ingredient in Chocolate Cupcake Tops:

There is a magic ingredient in the frosting. I hesitate to say it but here goes. Sour cream. (Lite sour cream works just fine.) I promise, you won’t taste anything that reminds you of sour cream. If you aren’t into frosting as much as I am, just swipe a little across the top. It’s not necessary to get fancy.

Speaking of fancy, thanks to Annie of Annie’s Eats for putting me on to the mechanical pastry bag available from Williams-Sonoma. The large tip is what I used to decorate the cookies in the first picture.

Chocolate Cupcake Tops (aka Frosted Chocolate Cookies)

Yield: 3 dozen small cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

These will remind you of the top of a chocolate cupcake. A soft, tender cookie with ganache-like, fudgy frosting.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
2 tablespoons cocoa (I like Hershey's brand Special Dark-a blend of natural and Dutched cocoa)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk or unflavored yogurt
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli bittersweet chips but semi-sweet chips would also work if you like your chocolate sweeter)
1/3 cup sour cream + another tablespoon
1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Whisk or sift together flour, cocoa, soda, and salt.
Use stand mixer to beat butter until smooth. Add in sugar and mix for two minutes. Add cooled chocolate and mix. Add egg and mix for another minute.
Combine buttermilk, espresso and vanilla. Add alternately with dry ingredients and blend just until mixed.
Chill in refrigerator at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Although they look fairly big in the pictures here, I like to make mine small so I can have seconds. 🙂 Bake 8-10 minutes until no imprint remains when cookie is lightly touched. Frost cookies when cooled.

Chocolate Icing

Melt chocolate in microwave on MEDIUM for 2 minutes. Stir and let stand for 3-4 minutes till it all melts. Stir in sour cream. Add powdered sugar and beat with a spoon until smooth and shiny.
Frosting will be thick and gloppy at first but as you beat, it will become smooth and shiny. Add another tablespoon or more of sour cream to thin to spreadable consistency. Spread on cooled cookies immediately. Let cookies sit until frosting dries slightly.

Notes

Freeze baked cookies unfrosted. Frosting will hold in the refrigerator for a few days. Microwave for 15 seconds and stir until glossy again.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 36 Serving Size: 2
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 144 Total Fat: 7g Saturated Fat: 4g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 14mg Sodium: 98mg Carbohydrates: 18g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 10g Protein: 2g

More cookies from my Frosted Cookie Collection…

Pink Shortbread Cookies

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies with Coffee Icing

Chocolate Cupcake Tops

The secret ingredient in Chocolate Cupcake Tops: