Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: June 8, 2023

These cupcakes mark a very personal anniversary for me. It’s the sort of milestone that’s especially significant once you know the context. One year ago (tomorrow, to be exact), Chris and I moved to New York.

If you’ve ever spent a significant amount of time traveling, you know how exhausting a nomadic lifestyle can be. For seven months, Chris and I were without homes. We’d packed in our lives in San Francisco, quit our jobs, and begun what we later called a “sabbatical”—a high-falutin’ but handy term to explain to our family and friends why we were taking an extended time off. We wanted to travel, work on personal projects, and reconnect with ourselves.

For about four of those months, we played vagabonds in South America. It was enriching and extraordinary. I’m still reeling from some of the places we visited, sights we saw. It was also bewildering, dangerous at times, and grinding in a way that can only be explained by showing, not telling: many-hour-long bus rides (our longest was 35), trudging along roadsides with our enormous backpacks hoping to catch rides from strangers, never quite acclimating to the continent-wide practice of everything shutting down for afternoon siestas and Sundays, meeting new people everyday and explaining our life stories over and over and over. I ate more Oreos and french fries than at any other time in my life, slept in hostels where bunk beds would be stacked on top of each other four beds high, celebrated Thanksgiving with 33-cent street burgers and arroz con leche, and at one point ran from a pack of muggers in Buenos Aires (Chris ended up punching one in the face).

You see? In a sense, I was happy to settle down, throw down some roots and re-establish continuity. I think this blog was borne out of that desire, to be honest. And yet the last year has been anything but predictable. Some dreams were extinguished and hardships faced. I mean, we’re talking about New York City here, the land of big ambitions, lofty goals. But other opportunities came along, bringing with them new beginnings, new adventures, and new people. It’s been difficult and frustrating and strange, truly, but I’m grateful to have experienced it all.

I apologize if I’m sounding incredibly vague and boilerplate. I realize how often people come across passages like these and just want the facts! They’re really not that juicy, just the usual twentysomething pangs.

But hey, the mood’s celebratory, remember? I finally filed my taxes, spring is seeping into the city one flower-laden tree at a time, and this recipe—which I used to make a 4-layer cake for Chris’s birthday a few weeks ago—is TOPS.

It’s worth noting that as far as wedding cake flavors go, I think I can pretty much stop here. This recipe results in a sturdy cake, definitely able to carry some weight, but not dense at all. And it’s so chocolate-y—Chris’s plebeian taste buds loved it. ; )

CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CUPCAKES

Adapted from Bon Appétit
Makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 cup Guinness (or other stout)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1-3/4 cups sugar
1/2 Tbsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pan with tins.

Bring the stout and butter to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add the stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber or wooden spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Fill each tin about 3/4 full. Bake until tester inserted into center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Turn out the cupcakes once the pan has cooled and let them cool completely before frosting, recipe below.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Adapted from the Food Network

I think this ratio of ingredients is perfect, but it makes for a slightly runny frosting. Make sure to refrigerate it to firm it up before frosting your cupcakes. Also, I was able to frost all 18 cupcakes using this amount, but I tend to like less-frosted cupcakes. For those of you who like normal amounts of frosting, use 1.5 to 2x the amounts listed below.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a mixer with the whisk attachment, combine the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Slowly add the sugar, making sure it’s combined before adding more. Add the vanilla and whisk until smooth. If it’s too runny, refrigerate it for about an hour.

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Cherry Cordial Brownie Cookies

Recipes

Christiana George

Updated Date:
December 18, 2022

Yet another rainy day. Kinda dreary. I don’t really feel like doing anything. I may just sit in front of the TV and eat the rest of these cookies I made yesterday. I used the Cherry Cordial M&M’s that were out during the Christmas season. They taste exactly like the Cherry M&M’s I used last year to make my Dark Chocolate Cherry M&M Cookies. Although I haven’t look for the Cherry ones this year, I know they are usually out for Valentine’s day. So either one you use is good. But you gotta have the cherry flavor in there.

When I was scouring the web for a soft, chewy chocolate cookie recipe to use with these Cherry Cordial M&M’s, I came upon this recipe for Soft and Chewy Brownie Cookies from Averie Cooks. Averie has some fabulous cookie recipes and her food photography always leaves me drooling.

Now I know she says not to use chocolate chips in this recipe because they do not melt well in the microwave, but I used Ghirardelli Baking Chips which I already know melt very well in the microwave. And they taste amazing. Since I needed 12 oz. of chocolate and the baking chips come in a 10 oz. bag, I added some mini chocolate chips to make up the difference and bridge the way between the dark chocolate baking chips and the milk chocolate M&M’s. What intrigued me about this recipe besides the minimal amount of flour, was the fact that you need to leave the batter out at room temperature for 1-2 hours prior to baking. I though this was odd. Usually you put it in the fridge. But, hey, I am always up for something new. I left the covered batter out for about 1 1/2 hours to set.

The result is a batter that has the consistency of a very thick mousse. If it hadn’t been for the raw eggs, I would have stuck me head in the bowl and devoured the batter raw. It’s unlike any batter I have worked with before. I did take a tiny taste and it was INCREDIBLE! I couldn’t wait to bake it. You can just scoop it onto a cookie sheet and gently press in the M&M’s. I choose to make them into heart shapes. I drop an almost full large scoop of the dough into each cavity of my Wilton Heart Shaped Whoopie Pie Pan. The same one I used for my Sugar Cookie Rice Krispie Treats. The round shaped whoopie pie pan works just as well. I just flattened out the dough with a spatula to fit the shape and gently pressed in the Cherry Cordial M&M’s

You have to let the cookies cool completely before trying to remove them from the pan or they will fall apart on you (and you will have to eat them). I think I may have overfilled my pan a bit, but they still came out heart shaped. I tasted one while is was still warm and the gooey chocolate was to die for.

Once cooled, the cookies have a slightly crispy outside with a soft, chewy inside just like a brownie. Since I used the baking chips which are larger than regular chocolate chips, you also get some nice chunks of dark chocolate when you bite into the cookie. The Cherry Cordial M&M’s just heighten the chocolate experience. I may try just mixing them right in the batter next time to add even more cherry flavor.

I have never made brownies from scratch before, never mind brownie cookies. I am so excited they came out right. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Cherry Cordial Brownie Cookies

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert snack dark chocolate Cherry Cordial M&M’s brownies cookie American

Ingredients (15 cookies)

1 bag (10 oz.) Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate baking chips, divided
3 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 bag (9.90 oz.) Cherry Cordial or Cherry M&M’s

Instructions

Place 5 oz. of the Ghirardelli baking chips in a small microwave safe bowl or measuring cup with the butter. Microwave at 30 second intervals until completely melted and smooth when stirred. Set aside to cool.

In a stand mixer add eggs, sugar and vanilla. Mix on medium for about 8 minutes or until mixture is a pale, creamy texture.

Add the flour, baking powder, melted chocolate, remaining 5 oz. of baking chips, and the mini chocolate chips to the egg mixture. Mix on medium for about 1 minute until fully combined.

Remove bowl from mixer, cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for about 1 hour until set. (The consistency should be that of a very thick mousse after set.)

Once mixture is set, preheat oven to 350°F.

With a large scoop (a little less than full), fill each cavity of the whoopie pie pan. With a spatula, spread the batter out to fill the shape of the cavity.

Gently press 3-5 M&M’s into each shape.

Bake for 10 minutes each batch. Do not remove from pan. Leave in pan until completely cooled, then gently remove with a clean spatula.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee or milk and sit down with your cookie. You are going to want to savor each minute of this dark chocolate and cherry bliss!

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