Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes

I've got to be honest about this project:

I am beginning to run out of steam.

Don't worry, I'm not giving up on it. But it's beginning to feel like that point on a run when you hit a wall and have to push past it to get your second wind. I'm waiting for my second wind, I guess.

As of this post, I have now made 12 recipes. I added it up, and I have used 61 eggs (sometimes just the whites, so if you have any ideas about what to do with 10 egg yolks, let me know) and 29 sticks of butter. Even though I haven't eaten all of them, I still feel kind of gross.

But I still have 62 recipes to go. Granted, I have only been at this for two months, and I feel like I am clipping along at a pretty good pace, but it is still daunting to think of how many more recipes I have to make before I am done.

Then, I start to think about how bizarre it is that I decided to undertake this project in the first place. Why am I not satisfied with the goals I am already working toward? Why do I feel the need add more goals? What will I have accomplished by doing this? Does anyone care?

Like I said, I am beginning to run out of steam. And when I run out of steam, I begin to get self-conscious about what I am doing. When I am really excited about things, I tend not to care if I am being loud and/or obnoxious. Don't try to pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about.

But, for now, I will keep going.

So I baked these on the same day that I baked the white cupcakes with Swiss meringue buttercream. They were going to be for our annual program picnic. The batch only made 23, so, after some contemplation, I decided to make the white cupcakes I was planning to bake early the next week to supplement what looked like a skimpy offering for 47 people.

The weird thing was, when they were displayed on my cupcake tower, the white cupcakes looked like the main event, and the chocolate chunk cupcakes looked like the afterthought. And, yes, I do think it is kind of weird that I own a cupcake tower. It seems kind of ostentatious. Of course, when I said that out loud, some people made fun of me for using the word ostentatious. Apparently, the word ostentatious is kind of ostentatious. Now my head hurts.

This recipe is actually one of three that were designed to look/taste like cookies. The other recipes will, I'm sure, appear later on. It seemed safe and kid-friendly.

And I got to pull out my Trader Joe's chocolate.

I love Trader Joe's. If you live near one, be very grateful. There is not one in the entire state of Texas. Grrr. We do have Whole Foods, but don't even mention how far away the nearest one is from my apartment.

I bought this Belgian chocolate at the Trader Joe's near Shane and Maria's house. Maria was nice enough to take me there, even though, for her, it meant chasing her daughter up and down the aisles trying to stop her from grabbing things.

I chopped it up myself with my Miracle Blades. Despite the fact that I nearly lost my finger using the filet knife when I first bought them, I love these Miracle Blades. They made great chocolate chunks.

Here is the official Martha link to this recipe. I want to be on the up and up with this website. The resulting product is great with vanilla ice cream, which I discovered when I took them over Alden, Garrett, and Charlie's house. I also discovered that Charlie doesn't even like cupcakes, which is a subject for another post.