Cinnamon & Chocolate Cupcakes
Copyright Kaye Dooler
Now here is a a recipe that I conjured this morning, I was feeling festive (in August??) - hence the cinnamon. I didn't weigh anything as my digital scales need a new battery. They turned out ok though, I will guess at the weights for you so you can recreate these at home. I'm afraid I didn't do step by step photographs for this recipe as I really didn't know how they were going to bake. I was worried I might have been too generous with the cinnamon but it worked beautifully with the dark chocolate.
Ingredients (all approximate):
125g butter/margerine
100g white sugar (granulated is fine but caster is better)
75g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
130g self raising flour
150ml full fat or semi skimmed milk. NOT Skimmed.
About 2-3tsps cinnamon.
About 12 pieces of dark chocolate. (A guide on size is if you place the chocolate in an empty cupcake paper that the 4 corners each touch, or almost touch, the sides of the paper).
Ok, now for the method.
It was very much guess work so I'll just say what I did. Make sure your oven is preheated to 175C/Gas 4/340F.
First I scooped out the butter, and placed it in my mixing bowl. I added the sugars and the eggs and mixed fairly quickly. I used my electric mixer and paddle attatchment but it could easily be done by hand with a bowl and wooden spoon.
Once the butter, sugar and eggs had combined to a creamy texture I started adding flour and milk in a flour, milk, flour pattern until it was all used up. I then added the cinnamon and whizzed them all together, on a slow speed at first but then cranked it up to super fast for about 30 seconds.
If you haven't lined a muffin tray already with paper cases then do it now as you need them!
I find an ice-cream scoop is good for this bit :)
Scoop a little mixture into each paper case, I would recommend filling the case about halfway. Place a piece of chocolate in each of the cases on top of the mixture, you may need to press the chocolate down slightly. Once all this is completed, place another, smaller, scoop of mixture on top of the chocolate pieces. Now you're ready to bake!
Pop them in your nice warm preheated oven and leave them there for about 15-20 minutes.
All done. Serve whilst hot or at least warm for the best taste. I made these as a treat for the children but they'd be lovely served with cream, custard or chocolate sauce as an after dinner sweet.