Chocolate Chip Cookie and Banana Cupcakes!

Can't believe I'm on my 7th and 8th recipe today! Today I decided to go with a fruit recipe and the banana cupcake seemed easiest. I had all the ingredients except bananas, which is quite easy to find. Since the book has so many chocolate recipes, I needed to make a chocolate one every week. This week I chose the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Interesting....

I picked up a couple of extra things even though I already have it but just in case because you never know when you might need it. Also, late night runs for baking ingredients is not my list of favourite things to do. On my last trip to the States, under my friend's advice, I purchase a couple of bricks of unsalted butter and it's already all gone. This time I had to pick up more butter. It can be quite expensive when they're not on sale.

With the help of another friend's advice, I found how to crush things a lot easier. I would just put the ingredients in a zip-loc bag and then use a knife to crush it! The blunt part of course. But this prevents things from flying everywhere. Why didn't I think of this before? So needless to say my bananas were wonderfully mashed this time. Although it is still a bit chunky, but hey can't be perfect all the time!

As I was making the second batter, it didn't occur to me that this really is a cookie dough until the batter became less runny and just very thick. DUH! So that was a bit unexpected on my part, because it simply didn't even occur to me.

They both smelled delicious! I tried the banana cupcake after it had cooled down and it reminds me of a banana muffin! The top was a bit hard and the inside soft. So my cupcakes today was a muffin and a cookie.

Of course being the "jump-first, think-later" person that I am, I didn't realize the Caramel Frosting I had chosen for the banana cupcake would take a LONG time to solidify to the right consitency. I had to wait until the next day before I can put the icing on it. And it did not become as thick as I hoped. It's more icing than frosting.

On the other hand, the Chocolate Hazelnut frosting was extremely thick and was not at all sticky. As in it didn't want to stick to the top of the chocolate chip cookie cupcakes. I had to push it down every time and pull it up gently so it doesn't take the whole frosting with it. I think the buttercream frosting consistency is by far the best to pipe. In the end they both turned out great and my family loved it. In fact I had to stop them from taking any in case I didn't have enough to bring to work and other friends. However; it tasted the best when it was fresh out of the oven. The whole kitchen smelled wonderful. Although exhausted after each time, I really do enjoy the surprises and satisfaction of making these cupcakes. And I love it when someone thinks its good.