Thursday, December 10, 2009

Black Bottoms


While quite good, and an old family favorite, I'll be honest and admit these can be sort of a pain (the pouring of stuff is the most annoying part, and they make a good number, so it's best to have a few mini muffin pans on hand). But, they are something my mom has always made for many special occasions and so something about the holidays usually prompts me to do the same.

Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
6 oz chocolate chips
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1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine first 4 ingredients, stirring in the chips last, and set aside.
3. Combine remaining ingredients and beat well.
4. Fill miniature cupcake pans (lined with paper cups) 1/3 full with chocolate mixture
5. Drop 1 tsp of cheese-chip mix into middle.
6. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, removing before cream cheese mix browns.

(Adjust using normal conventions for high-altitude...paying special attention NOT to overcook).

7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Tried these after seeing NY Times recipe (after correction of egg to cream cheese mixture) - using 1/2 cup of flour for the chocolate batter yielded a watery mess. Using 1 1/2 cups of flour yielded perfect cupcake batter. Are you sure the 1/2 cup flour is not a typo that should be 1 1/2 cups? Using the 1 1/2 cups these came out great! Try these with just a 1/2 cup and you'll see what I mean.

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  3. LT, Thanks so much -- I can't believe how botched this recipe got in translation! You're right; it is 1 1/2 cups and I feel HORRIBLE about the typos.
    Thanks for pointing it out here too and I'm so sorry for the trouble!!!

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  4. Hey bottom line is it's a great recipe! These were universally gobbled up and praised and are now a permanent part of my repertoire! Typos happen, so don't feel bad - thanks for sharing these yummy cupcakes.

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  5. Sourdough, we too made the original black bottom recipe and regretfully did not take pictures, they came out horrible, it did give us all a good laugh and ever persistent we are mixing up a new batch with the modified recipe.

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  6. Hey, i'm so glad I found the right version of this recipe. the cupcakes looked so amazing and i was so sad when mine didn't look like the picture.

    i wrote about my experience at my blog: http://www.cookinginmypajamas.wordpress.com

    I'll definitely write about how the right ones come out later this week.

    Thanks!

    -lara

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  7. I am notorious in my circle for being a fabulous cook but horrendous baker. I was so proud of myself when I not only read through the recipe twice, but assembled all of my ingredients and equipment ahead of time. Not being a baker, I didn't clue in when the chocolate batter was watery. At least I know this time my curse was not to blame! Going to try this again, with the revisions, and hopefully with more success than the last time.

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