Week 9, March 31st 2014 ~ Heath Bar Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

It is always best to keep the boss happy! So when the boss mentions he likes heath bars and I should make a cupcake using them then that's obviously what I am gonna do! It also helps that I love toffee too! I was originally going to just make chocolate cupcakes and use toffee chips but then I thought "eh, been there done that..."I have made a lot of chocolate cupcakes so far. So then I thought of the chocolate chip cookie cupcakes I made a while ago and thought those would go good with the toffee...and that was a correct assumption on my part! The chips melted into the cake and made it moister and made the whole cake taste like toffee. Then I topped the cupcake with a layer of chocolate and broken up pieces of health bar and a salted caramel buttercream! Side note I think this might be the first cupcake I didn't fill with anything during this challenge!

This recipe made 12 cupcakes

• The base of the cupcake is a recipe adapted from annies-eats.com. Visit that website for her chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes-which are amazing!
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• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)
• 1/2 cup toffee baking chips (They are with the chocolate chips in the grocery store)
• dark cocoa candy melts --you can also make your own ganache or use chocolate almond bark, I just used what I had
• 3 Heath Bars 

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
3. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. 
5. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips and toffee bits with a spatula.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. One cooled crush the heath bars and put on a paper plate and melt the candy melts as directed or use a ganache. I melted then in a container big enough to dip the cupcakes straight into.
8. Dip each cupcake into the chocolate and then into the candy and put back on the wire rack. While the chocolate sets prepare the buttercream.

For the Salted Caramel Buttercream:

• 2 Sticks unsalted butter; room temperature--you could use salted but just omit the additional salt
• 3 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/3 cup caramel sauce --store bought or homemade (you could use the salted caramel recipe I used for my salted caramel mocha cupcakes  if you are feeling ambitious) 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1. Whip the butter for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy
2. Add the confectioners sugar one cup at a time until fully encorporated
3. Add the caramel sauce, vanilla, and salt and beat for another 4-5 minutes until fluffy and it wouldn't fall out of the bowl if you tipped it upside down...try it its fun!
4. Taste and add more salt or caramel if you want---I ended up adding a little more of each 
5. Garnish with leftover toffee crumbs or caramel if you want!

I piled the frosting up pretty high on these...I just couldn't get enough of it!

For the fun pic of the day....the best coffee mug of all time! I love it!