Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbs reign supreme in the dessert world. Soft, fluffy, moist, and bursting with flavor, these cupcakes are the absolute BEST!

And after you try Chocolate Chip Cupcakes, make sure to try these Banana Cupcakes, Pumpkin Cupcakes, and these Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

Chocolate chip cupcakes topped with rich icing and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I’m thrilled to share one of our family’s favorite desserts: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. They’re a fun mashup of chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes, a perfect combination, don’t you think?

It’s hard to resist a great cupcake, but when you add creamy cream cheese frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbs on top, they become irresistible. Inspired by our favorite cupcakes from Milk & Cookies, a local bakery, these should be named Cookie Monster Dreams – they’re a dream come true for cookie lovers!

Freshly baked desserts surrounded by crunchy cookies and scattered chocolate chips.

Ingredients In Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

  • Cupcake Batter:
    • Eggs: Provide structure and act as a binding agent.
    • Full-fat sour cream & buttermilk: Add moisture and richness, making the cupcakes tender.
    • Canola oil: Keeps the cupcakes moist.
    • Vanilla & almond extracts: Enhance flavor.
    • Yellow cake mix & vanilla pudding mix: Form the base of the cupcakes, giving structure and flavor.
    • Miniature chocolate chips: Add chocolate flavor and texture.
  • Frosting:
    • Unsalted butter & cream cheese: Create a creamy base for the frosting.
    • Powdered sugar: Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
    • Vanilla extract & fine sea salt: Enhance flavor.
    • Heavy cream: Adjusts the frosting’s consistency.
    • Chocolate chip cookie crumbs: Add texture and flavor for garnish.

Preparation of the chocolate chip cupcake recipe, from mixing wet ingredients to stirring in buttermilk, adding chocolate chips, spooning batter, baking, cooling, and frosting with cream cheese.

How To Make Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

  1. Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F, line two cupcake pans with 24 liners.
  2. Batter:Whisk eggs, then add sour cream, oil, vanilla, and almond extract, stirring well; mix in cake and pudding mixes, add buttermilk and stir until smooth, and finally, fold in chocolate chips.
  3. Bake: Fill liners 3/4, bake 18-23 mins. Cool.
  4. Frosting:Beat together butter and cream cheese, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, then mix in heavy cream for the desired consistency and stir in cookie crumbs.
  5. Decorate: Frost cupcakes, add cookie crumbs.

Quick Tip

Add the powdered sugar gradually to avoid a mess. Adjust the amount to taste; more sugar makes the frosting sweeter and firmer, while less keeps it tangier and softer. 

Butter and cream cheese being prepped for frosting with powdered sugar and chopped cookies being mixed in.

Cupcake Baking Tips

  • Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature before starting. This helps ensure your cupcakes rise evenly (and don’t sink or fall).
  • Don’t overmix the batter. Overmixing results in denser, less-fluffy muffins.
  • Bake Chocolate Chip Cupcakes in the center of your oven. That provides the best air and heat circulation.
  • Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting, to avoid melted puddles of frosting.
  • Be sure to check out this article for more tips.

Finished dessert topped with rich cream cheese frosting and cookie crumbles.

More Cake Recipes:

5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Topped with cream cheese frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbs, these Chocolate Chip Cupcakes are saft, fluffy, and absolutely bursting with delicious chocolatey flavor!
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 24 cupcakes

Equipment

  • 2 muffin pans lined

Ingredients 
 

Cupcakes

  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sour cream full-fat
  • 3/4 cup canola oil
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract optional
  • 1 (15.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
  • 1 (3.4-ounce) package vanilla pudding mix dry
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Frosting

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
  • 4 ounces cream cheese full-fat, room temperature
  • 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/16 teaspoon salt
  • 1โ€“2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chip cookie crumbs

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350โ„‰ and line two muffin pans with liners (24 liners total). Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork. Add the sour cream, canola oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if using). Stir until completely combined. Add the cake mix and pudding mix to the bowl. Stir until mostly combined, streaks of cake mix will still be visible. Pour in the buttermilk and mix until the batter is fully combined and smooth. Don't overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
  • Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, evenly divide the batter between the 24 cupcakes. Bake for 18โ€“23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool before frosting.
  • In a large bowl (or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), beat together the butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract and salt. Slowly add the heavy cream till you reach your desired consistency. With a spatula, fold in about 1/2 cup of chocolate chip cookie crumbs (see note 1).
  • Frost cupcakes with a table knife and top with additional cookie crumbs if desired.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: We've found the amount of frosting in the recipe is perfect for 24 cupcakes, but if you like a lot of frosting, you may want to double the frosting amounts.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 328kcal | Carbohydrates: 38.7g | Protein: 2.9g | Fat: 18.8g | Cholesterol: 43.3mg | Sodium: 219.8mg | Fiber: 0.7g | Sugar: 30.2g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hello, and welcome to Chelseaโ€™s Messy Apron! Iโ€™m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. Iโ€™m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.

Thanks for stopping byโ€”I hope you find something delicious to make!

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5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)

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14 Comments

  1. Erin @ Miss Scrambled Egg says:

    I am totally up for a mash up recipe especially mixing two of my favorite desserts…cookies and cupcakes. Brilliant!

  2. mira says:

    These chocolate chip cupcakes look beautiful and I’m sure delicious!

  3. Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says:

    5 stars
    sooooooooooo buttery and the perfect combo of cookies and cupcakes!

  4. Megan - The Emotional Baker says:

    Oh my gosh!!! These look amazing! Those cookie crumbles make for an awesome looking cupcake!

  5. Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says:

    Cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies TOGETHER? I am 100% sure that these babies are what my dreams are made of! I’ll take 3 please ๐Ÿ˜‰ Pinned

  6. Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice says:

    These are the cutest cupcakes, Chelsea! I love that you combined my favorite cookie in cake form. Sounds delicious!

  7. Jacqueline {Go Go Go Gourmet} says:

    They look delicious Chelsea!

  8. Annie @ Annie's Noms says:

    Oh wow – you’ve combined my 2 favourite things ever into one epic dessert!!

  9. Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says:

    This looks like the best of both worlds: cupcakes and cookies! Such a great idea!

  10. Medeja says:

    I love everything with chocolate chips ๐Ÿ™‚