Chocolate Chip Cookie Cup Bites with Buttercream

Sweet little bites!

I love cake but sometimes the the chewy yet crispy nature of a great chocolate chip cookie can't be beat. And to be honest regardless of the cake, more times than not, I am more interested in the icing! And that's how this came cookie cup with buttercream icing came to life. Of course, you could make any chocolate chip cookie and just slather icing on it but this time I wanted a cute little presentation that would look fancy enough for showers, lunches, teas etc. What do you think?

Except for some added vanilla this cookie recipe is off the back of the bag. I also zap the chips in my food processor first. This, I think, infuses the chocolate taste into the dough better and because this recipe uses extra mini muffins tins, the chips as is would be too big.

The buttercream goes back to my childhood - simple and delicious. I added some pink colouring gel to it but the possibilities are endless.

I found the cookies needed a little coaxing to come out of the pan so maybe a little spray of oil would have helped. The pan I used was a little smaller than a classic mini muffin tin and had fluted edges (maybe 1-1/2 inches wide) but I'm sure the regular mini pans will work but might take an extra minute to bake.

Finally, if you don't need to make 5 dozen cookies. Feel free to make a dozen or two and freeze the rest. You can also freeze the icing!

Ingredients
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (270 g) CHIPITS® Milk Chocolate Chips

What to do

• Heat oven to 375°F (190°C).
• In large bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and hot water until smooth- about 3 minutes.
• In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into butter mixture until blended.
• Pulse chocolate chips in a food processor until sand-like.
• Stir in the chips. Take about a teaspoon of dough and press into the muffin tin that you have on hand. If you put too thick of a layer of dough in it will rise up and not leave you with much of a "cup".
• Bake 10 minutes until golden (this may change depending on size of tin you use).
• Let cool at least ten minutes. Try to remove from tin. If it crumbles cool longer until you can remove the cookie cups.
• Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, unsalted and at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk

What to do

• Sift sugar into large bowl.
• Cut butter into smaller pieces.
• Turn mixer on low and slowly add the butter one piece at a time.
• Add vanilla.
• Slowly add milk.
• Turn to medium speed and beat for 4 minutes.
• If desired, add food coloring and beat until consistent color is reached.

Preparing Cookie Cups

• Using either an icing bag or a plastic sandwich bag with a small part of one tip cut away, fill the bag with a cup or so of icing.
• Neatly fill your cookie cups with a swirl of icing.
• Enjoy!