Erika's Eats: Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Filled Cupcakes

Mouthful, isn't it? :) I was blessed with another excuse to bake something wonderful for another birthday at work!

We have a local bakery inside our mall and every single day my mouth waters from the aroma that comes out of that store! Vanilla Almond, Chocolate, Carrot..you name it, I smell it! This became my driving inspiration for this recipe. I hadn't made cupcakes in FOREVER and this recipe seemed pretty easy, I had most of the ingredients (BONUS!) and I wanted my house to smell of fresh baked goods.

The recipe will make 3 dozen cupcakes! Do not make this if you aren't planning on sharing! :)

Ingredients:

for the filling:

8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

for the cupcake:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

2/3 cups vegetable oil

2 Tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Step One:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt until smooth. Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips. Set aside.

Step Two:

In a large mixing bowl or stand alone mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and coca powder.

Step Three:

Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla to powder mix. Mix on medium for 3 mins.

Step Four:

Prep cupcake pans with liners. Fill cupcakes 2/3 of the way. Add 1 (ish) teaspon of cream cheese to the center of the cupcakes. (The more cream cheese the better! But make sure to save enough for all the batter!!)