Chunky S’mores Dipped Cupcakes

Is summer here yet???  Memorial Day, 4th of July, graduation parties, and summer barbecues are coming up so I knew I needed to come up with a fun dessert recipe! I thought I’d revisit my dipped cupcakes after my Green Velvet Dipped Cupcakes got a lot of buzz.  We bought a firepit last year and my kids have been obsessed with making s’mores ALL the time! Staring at a cupboard full of marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate bars, and graham crackers everyday turned into an idea for these Chunky S’mores Dipped Cupcakes. They look very involved and gourmet, and I realize this post is lonnnnnng  but these cupcakes are quite easy and snappy to make!  I swear!!  And don’t forget that time is running out to enter my GIVEAWAY!!  Enter, Enter, Enter and tell your friends to enter!

I feel like it’s been forever since I posted!  I was in Atlanta last week for the BlogHer Food Conference so I can’t tell you how difficult it was to wait until this week to try out this S’mores cupcake idea. I really missed posting! These Chunky S’mores Dipped Cupcakes have been on my brain for awhile! More about Atlanta in an upcoming post, but thanks to my foodie friends, as well as my non-foodie friend (who was nice enough to drive me all over Atlanta and put up with my crazy foodiness), I got lots of inspirations for some upcoming recipes.

Enough chit-chat, let’s get to these cupcakes!

I looked all over for a good graham cracker cake recipe and couldn’t find one.  A lot of the recipes require whipping egg whites.  And whipping and folding in egg whites is one of my cooking pet peeves so I came up with my own recipe.  Whisk together all the dry ingredients for the cake batter and set aside.

Beat together the butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Hope you have a cute expert egg cracker like I do!

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter, beating after each addition.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners.  I like to use an ice cream scoop so that the cupcakes come out about the same size. I was hoping to get 24 cupcakes out of this recipe, but only got 20.  If you make them a little smaller (or don’t eat too much of the batter which might have been part of my problem) you may be able to get a few more.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes.  They will be golden brown on top and an inserted toothpick will come out clean.  Cool completely!!!  I mean C O M P L E T E L Y!  Don’t even try to frost these babies if they’re a little warm.

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.  I had a bag of milk chocolate chips, so I melted it, poured it on some wax paper, let it cool, then chopped it.  BUT you could definitely use chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, or chop up some chocolate candy bars.

Beat together the rest of the frosting ingredients then stir in the chocolate.  Yum!!!  Don’t even think of putting your finger in there and trying it.  There will be no turning back if you do!  This makes ALOT of frosting!  You can “halve” the frosting recipe if you don’t want the frosting quite so high on the cupcakes.  More about that below.

Refrigerate the frosting if necessary so that it’s stiff enough to spoon or pipe on top of cupcakes.  I spooned the frosting on top.  Put the cupcakes in the freezer, then spooned more frosting on top, froze, etc.  When I had a huge amount of frosting on top, I then shaped the frosting with my hands.  Refrigerate again until ready to dip cupcakes.

While cupcakes are in the refrigerator, melt your chocolate.  I used a few bags of candy melts but you can use any of your favorite melting chocolates.  I would highly suggest using the double-boiler method (use actual double-boiler pans or place a bowl on top of a pan with a little water, just make sure the bowl is not heat sensitive) when dipping the cupcakes.  The double-boiler will keep the chocolate melted and smooth while you get through all the cupcakes.  If you melt the chocolate in the microwave, the chocolate may thicken a little by the time you get through all the cupcakes.

Stir the chocolate until smooth and melted then you’re ready to dip the cupcakes!  Before dipping, first turn your cupcake over and make sure the frosting is stiff.  Then take a deep breath, say a little prayer and…

dip the cupcakes right into the chocolate.  Swirl the cupcakes around a little so that all sides are covered.  Try to do this rather quickly so that the warm chocolate doesn’t melt the frosting.

I like to keep all my cupcakes in the refrigerator while I dip a few at a time, then place the dipped cupcakes back in the refrigerator and take out a few more.  While dipping, make sure you let the extra chocolate run off.  If you don’t, when you flip the cupcakes over, the chocolate will run down all over the wrapper and right onto the counter.  Been there, done that! 

You can double dip the cupcakes if you want after the chocolate from the first dip has cooled.  But I thought one dip was enough.  Don’t want these to be TOO caloric, right?    While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle the cupcakes with extra graham cracker crumbs if you want.

If that piled high frosting is WAY too much frosting for you,  you can halve the frosting recipe as I mentioned and you can still dip the cupcakes.  These would be the cupcakes my kids are getting so shhhhhh, please don’t tell them you saw the other ones with a lot more frosting!!  They are still just as good just maybe not as dramatic.

Hope you enjoy these Chunky S’mores Dipped Cupcakes!  I know we all did!

I’m just a poor blogger who doesn’t take any advertisement money and all I ask for is a little love to keep me going and creating new recipes. So please don’t forget to ENTER my current giveaways for some great prizes! If you like this recipe, please follow me on FACEBOOK or TWITTER. You can also sign-up to receive my recipes and posts by EMAIL or RSS. Thanks for visiting Snappy Gourmet!

Chunky S’mores Dipped Cupcakes
By: Snappy Gourmet

Cupcakes:
2 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 20 whole sheets graham crackers)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup milk

Frosting:
2 (16oz) containers marshmallow fluff
2 cups unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
4 cups chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips)

Chocolate Dip:
Melted chocolate (such as 3-4 14oz. bags chocolate candy melts)

Garnish (optional):
Graham cracker crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan(s) with 20 paper liners.
2. Whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl until well combined.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together 3/4 cup butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined. Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Alternate beating in 1 1/4 cup milk and flour mixture until combined.
4. Spoon cake batter into paper liners. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean when inserted into middle of cupcakes. Cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, prepare frosting by beating together marshmallow fluff and 2 cups butter in large mixing bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat in confectioners’ sugar until well combined. Beat in milk 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting just comes together. Refrigerate frosting for about 30 minutes or until firmer.
6. Spoon or pipe frosting (see notes below) onto cupcakes to desired height. Refrigerate again for about 30 minutes or until frosting is firm (or freeze for about 15-20 minutes.).
7. When frosting on cupcakes is firm enough to turn upside down, melt chocolate. I suggest using a double boiler (rather than the microwave) so that chocolate stays warm and smooth while dipping cupcakes. Dip cupcakes in chocolate letting extra chocolate to run off before placing cupcakes on a baking sheet (or dish). Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on top of cupcakes if desired while chocolate is still warm, then place cupcakes in refrigerator for a few minutes for chocolate to firm.

Makes about 20 cupcakes

SNAPPY TIPS: You may have to work with the frosting a little. Depending on temperature in your house, humidity, etc., be sure the frosting is firm so don’t add too much milk and refrigerate or freeze frosting/cupcakes as necessary so that the frosting stays on the cupcakes. When I first made these, the frosting was a little thin, so I piled as much frosting as I could on them, then froze them, piled more on top, froze them, piled more, etc. then shaped the frozen frosting with my hands to form a cone shape.

SNAPPY SUBSTITUTIONS: I used milk chocolate, but other types of chocolate would work well too.

Tagged as: 4th of july, cupcake, dessert, dipped cupcake, marshmallow fluff, memorial day, recipe, s'mores