Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

  

Aren't the different colored muffin papers fun?!

Right before I went to Oxford a friend of mine (Sophie, who made the apple pie with me) bought me the Martha Stewart Cupcakes cookbook.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the chance to use it until now.  And let me say, it is a good cookbook!

I made the Chocolate Chunk Cookie Cupcakes.  I've called them Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes because I was running a bit late today and I didn't really have time to chop up bars of chocolate, so I just used chocolate chips.  They are really, really good!  I think the name is a slight misnomer though.  They don't really resemble cookies or cupcakes or muffins, for that matter; they are sort-of a conglomeration of the three.  They have a similar taste to chocolate chip cookies (though less brown sugary), a similar texture to cupcakes (light, moist and slightly spongy, in a good way), and resemble muffins in that they aren't iced (but are much, much lighter and are made of a cake batter not a quick bread batter).  Whatever you call them they are very good!  My only complaint is that they are not nearly chocolaty enough...next time I will have to increase the amount of chocolate chips.  

By the way, the recipe makes 24 normal sized muffins.  But I made them mini sized so I got 48 minis and 3 normals (I ran out of mini muffin tins).  I personally like the two-bite nature of mini muffins, plus they are a perfect size to give away, which my friends who I'm surprising with these tomorrow will be happy about!