Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes!

taken from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and can be found on her website

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk. Stir in chocolate chunks with a rubber spatula.
3. Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake until pale golden and a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire racks; let cool completely.

Today was Mini-Baker's 4th Birthday! So, of course I baked! I changed my mind about her birthday cake a couple of days ago. I originally was going to do a rainbow marble cake to go with Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Then because more recently has become obsessed with Cookie Monster (who can't love a monster who eats cookies?) I decided on Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes from her Cupcake book.

However they didn't turn out right. I knew the batter looked funny, but since I had followed instructions I went ahead and baked them. The chips sank to the bottom and they had a weird top similar to the Irn Bru cupcakes. The bottoms were greasy and although the skewer came out clean they looked a little under done. I served them up anyway (they were edible) but I felt the cookie cupcake with Cookie Monster was a bit lost.

weird top

greasy bottom

chips stuck to the wrapper and cake looking soggy

what they should have looked like: took a picture of the book

I was annoyed; this is the second time Martha's recipes from the Cupcake book didn't work out for me. At first I thought I might have converted the butter wrong, but didn’t see how? Then it hit me. Egg sizes. I swore I remembered reading somewhere that UK and US egg sizes weren't the same.
After an online search I found this on Nigella's website (page has since been removed): it says that a UK large egg is a US x-large egg. So, for my cupcake recipe that calls for 3 large eggs I used 3 x-large eggs. That explains it! Well, the problem was solved just not in time for Mini-Baker’s birthday. Now I know when using US recipes to be more aware. However not all was lost! See my next following post on Puppy Chow!

note: I found this image of Cookie Monster online and just printed it out. Cut circles out of blue paper and taped them on to colored craft sticks. Then glued Cookie Monster's image on top!