Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

Ingredients

For the Cookie Cups:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips

For the Chocolate Ganache:

4 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream

For the Vanilla Buttercream:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Light pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons whole milk
Orange and purple food coloring
Piping bags
Large star tip
Halloween sprinkles, candy eyes

Directions

For the Cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 325°F and spray Farberware ColorVive 12-Cup Muffin Pan with nonstick pan spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add egg followed by vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the flour mixture and mini chocolate chips and mix just until combined. Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
4. Scoop chilled cookie dough into 2-ounce portions and place in prepared muffin pan. Bake cookies for 18-22 minutes, rotating once halfway through. Remove from the oven and set on cooling rack.
5. Using the back of a small cookie scoop or melon baller, immediately create an indentation in the middle of the cookies to create cookie cups. Allow cookie cups to cool and set in the muffin tin for about 10 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack. Please note, you may need a small spatula to loosen the cookie cups, but once they have set, they will pop right out.

For the Chocolate Ganache: 

1. Place chocolate in a small bowl and set aside. In Farberware Glide 1-Qt Saucepan, bring heavy cream up to a scald over medium heat. Pour over chocolate and stir until smooth. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of ganache into each of the cooled cookie cups. Refrigerate cookie cups to allow the ganache to set up while you prepare the buttercream.

For the Buttercream: 

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add salt and continue to mix.
2. Add vanilla and milk, and beat for an additional 3-5 minutes, until smooth and fluffy. Divide buttercream into 3 separate bowls, leaving one white and coloring the remaining 2 with orange and purple food coloring.
3. Transfer buttercream to piping bag fitted with star tip. To create the marble effect, I suggest filling the piping bag by alternating the colors (one scoop white followed by one scoop orange and so on) so that the colors will begin to blend as you pipe. Pipe buttercream on top of cookie cups and garnish with sprinkles and candy eyes.