Chris's Office Goodies

Fridays at Chris's office are Treat days, and tomorrow is Chris's turn to bring the goodies.

In the past I've made chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting and red sprinkles, harvest spice cupcakes with maple buttercream frosting and walnuts (remind me to share this recipe, it's amazing!), lemon-glazed blueberry scones (with freshly picked blueberries!), and spicy sausage and cheese muffins.

Tonight I made chocolate cupcakes with Nutella buttercream frosting, chocolate drizzle, and Toffifay garnish.

Apparently Toffifay is a hazelnut covered in chocolate and dipped in caramel. I never knew about them before yesterday when I opted for them over Hershey's Kisses because I couldn't find any of the Ferrero Rocher truffle things.

Behold! Toffifay! (and Nutella. Amazing stuff, Nutella...)

You can find the recipe I used for the Nutella buttercream frosting here.

Here is my chocolate cupcake recipe. I have drawn from a few different recipes to get to this one. I hope you like it!

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes ~2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1 cup brewed coffee
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan.

Combine the cocoa and the boiling water in a small bowl until smooth and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in an electric mixer.

Add in flour mixture and cocoa alternately, beating on low speed between each addition. Careful not to over-beat the batter. I tend to space out a bit and do that... it will make your cupcakes uneven and a little bubbly looking.

Bake cupcakes 20 minutes or until they spring back when touched.

Allow to cool completely and frost with Nutella frosting.

For chocolate drizzle, combine chocolate chips and heavy cream in a ziploc bag. Melt and mix together until smooth. Cut a tiny piece off of the tip of the bag and drizzle the cupcakes with chocolate.

Top with Toffifay and present to hungry co-workers or family!

I know I'm not supposed to eat gluten because of my gluten intolerance, but I tried one of these, and they are really, really good! 

I had to try them, you know. It's not like I could just send them to work with Chris without tasting them! It was my duty as a cook... 

What can I say? I can't resist chocolate. Or Nutella. So chocolate and Nutella? I was doomed from the start...