Let me tell you a little bit about my weekends.

First of all, my husband works on the weekends.  While his shift varies, he’s usually out of the house most of the day on Saturdays and Sundays.  This means that all housework, discipline, errands and social events are all on me.  And, that’s totally fine, it’s what I signed up for and I’m perfectly ok with it.  We make it work, and most weekends are full of more fun activities than chores, anyway.

But occasionally, we have a rough day.  We have one of those days when the girls just can’t get along, there are ten thousand loads of laundry to do, and my list of chores-to-do-before-Monday is a mile long.

Last Sunday?  Rough day.  A failed recipe (that I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to work), cranky girls, messy house, and a little one that dumped every single toy out of her toy baskets on to her bedroom floor during nap time would have been bad enough.  But then, I got stung by a wasp.

Yep.  There was a WASP in my LAUNDRY  HAMPER.  And yes, capital letters are necessary.

A wasp.  In my dirty clothes hamper.  I reached down into the basket to gather the clothes, and it stung me.

Then, it went for a swim in the septic tank, but that’s neither here nor there.

It got me on the inside of my arm, which immediately swelled up and started itching like mad.  I have absolutely no idea why there was a wasp in my hamper.  But now, for the rest of my life, I’m going to feel like I have to check my hamper out to make sure there are no stinging-insects crawling around before I do laundry, and that’s going to annoy me.

It’s just been that kind of week around here.

You know what makes things all better?  Milk and cookies.  Always.

Determined to have a better week, I broke out this recipe that I’d been saving for just the right time.  The cake has an amazing texture and it’s evenly dotted with mini chocolate chips.  The frosting isn’t too sweet, it’s creamy and milky – perfect.  It really does taste like milk and cookies.  I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to make the mini cookies, but they’re really just for garnish and you can skip them if you like.

Except that they’re delish, so please make them.

Here’s another secret that I shouldn’t tell you but I will anyway.  You can totally make this with boxed cake mix.  If you aren’t comfortable making the cake part from scratch, just use a white cake mix and add the whole egg, not just the whites.  Add a little vanilla, and a pinch of salt, and you won’t be able to tell you didn’t make it from scratch because there are so many chocolate chips!

Give them a try and let me know what you think.
Enjoy!

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Milk & Cookies Cupcakes
Yield:  24 cupcakes
Prep Time:  30 minutes ♦ Bake Time: 18 minutes for cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 6 oz mini chocolate chips, plus more for garnish
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (to coat chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat together eggs and sugar until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder and vanilla and beat for another minute. Pour  mini chocolate chips into a small bowl.  Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of flour over chips, and mix to coat.  Fold coated chips into batter.Pour batter into lined cupcake tins, filling each tin 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes (or use a cake-tester).  Remove from cupcake tin right away, and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield:  36-48 mini cookies
Prep Time:  15 minutes ♦ Bake Time:  4-5 minutes per batch

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 6 oz mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with a silpat mat or parchment paper, and set aside.

Beat together butter and both sugars until creamy and fluffy.  Meanwhile, combine flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl.  Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until just combined.  Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon a very small spoonful (about the size of a large marble) on to the cookie sheet.  Bake for 4-5 minutes or until the edges are just beginning to turn brown.  Remove from oven and allow to sit on the cookie sheet for another 1-2 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and repeat.

If your kitchen is warm, it would be a good idea to keep the batter in the fridge between batches.  Otherwise, they will spread too much. 

Allow cookies to cool completely before garnishing.

Milk Frosting Ingredients:

• 3 sticks (1 and 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, cool room temperature
• 3 and 1/2 cups confectioners/powdered sugar
• 7 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.  Add the powdered sugar, and beat to combine.  Add condensed milk, cream and vanilla extract, then beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  

Generously frost cooled cupcakes.

Recipe Source & Inspiration:  Raspberri Cupcakes