From Canadian Living: Summer 1981 - though thousands of versions of this are all over the internet - with little/no attribution.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Use two tins that fit medium size paper cupcake liners - you'll get 24 cupcakes.
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
pinch salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
In the small bowl of a stand mixer, cream together cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt until light / creamy and a bit fluffy.
If cream cheese was not soft enough, this may be a bit lumpy – but this does not affect appearance or taste.
Stir chocolate chips into above and set aside.
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Combine in large mixing bowl until well blended.
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 TB vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Add to dry ingredients and mix well. (I use a mixer, but I guess it could be done by hand.)
Puffy, right from the oven - and then cool and collapsed - but yummy!
Fill muffin tins about ½ full with the chocolate batter - distribute all the chocolate batter first - and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture. Bake in a 350 F preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. In my oven, 21 minutes does the trick. The cupcakes will be puffed up; the cream cheese will not be wet/shiny. No point testing with a toothpick - it will come out messy even when they are done. Over-bake and the cream cheese will start to brown – still edible, but not as pretty. The puffy top will collapse as they cool. Especially yummy when cool enough to eat, but chocolate chips are still soft.
Notes and Tips...
Cream Cheese - as one of my "go to" recipes, sometimes made on short notice, the cream cheese may not be softened enough. When planning ahead, I have even left it out over night. Philly company suggests an hour and also offers a quick microwave tip.
Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder - see Ingredients for important info on the types of cocoa powder. In prepping tips, I was reminded that natural cocoa can be substituent for Dutch processed, but not vice versa. Oops! I have been using Dutch processed in this recipe for years and they turn out fine. Next time I make them I will go back to using natural unsweetened and update this if there is a significant difference.
Oil - vegetable oil is usually corn oil - not the same as canola. In some recipes this can make a difference, but not here.
Fill - cooking scoops (see Equipment) come in handy. So much easier to scoop and release rather than fiddling with finger/spoon, two spoons ... For the chocolate batter I use my black scoop which holds about 5 tsps; for the cream cheese mixture I use my purple handled scoop which is about 3 tsp.
Storage - fine at room temperature covered in plastic wrap for a few days - they have never lasted longer. What these cupcakes are famous for is surviving Parcel Post in care packages sent to many places on the planet!
Planning this task - the night before I prepped the sugar/salt and chocolate chips for the cream cheese batter; measured and mixed all the dry ingredients; pulled other ingredients from the cupboard and lined the muffin tin. Next morning I mixed the cream cheese batter, went out for a breakfast meeting, returned and finished the recipe - all so "Zen" and quick - no stress, no fuss, and lots of yummy fun!
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<== Questions or Comments? Want to LIKE this recipe? View related blog post: Feb. 18.2015 - looking forward to hearing from you!