Chocolate Filled Cupcakes

This delicious recipe comes from the Taste of Home Magazine. This magazine has great recipes and I am proud to be one of their Field Editors from Oklahoma. Each issue has at least 4 recipes that I want to make, this being just one of them from the current issue. The kiddos thought cream filled cupcakes from home were the bomb, to say the least as they want to make them again and again. I did enjoy my cupcake with a very strong cup of coffee. This would be so good for a Valentine's treat for that special someone or for your kiddo's class party. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 baking cocoa
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 cups cold water
3/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
2 T white vinegar
2 t vanilla




Filling:

4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 t salt
4 T beaten egg
1/2 t vanilla
3/4 chocolate chips
Powdered sugar

In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In another bowl combine the wet. Stir the wet into the dry and stir just until moistened.

For filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and salt until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Fold in chips.

Fill 20 paper-lined cupcake cups half full with batter. Drop one tablespoon of cream filling into batter and then top with batter. Bake at 350' for 25 minutes. Cool completely and then dust with powdered sugar. My kiddos wanted icing on their cupcakes, guess that were not sweet enough. Here is the recipe I used for the icing just in case you want the extra sweet variety.

Icing:
1 stick butter-softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa
4 T milk

Cream butter and sugar until creamy. Slowly add in cocoa and milk. Mix until creamy. Top each cupcake with icing.