Black-Bottom Cupcakes

Another recipe from my friend Heather. "Black-Bottom Cupcakes"

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine in a small mixing bowl:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 C. sugar
1/8 t. salt

Beat well and stir in:
12 oz. of chocolate chips

(I don’t let the cream cheese set out long at all…if you do, the cream cheese mixture will be runny, and you want it to have a good consistency to it, so it doesn’t fall to the bottom of the cupcakes…it should be a little thick.)

Sift together in another bowl:
1 ½ C. flour
1 C. sugar
¼ C. cocoa
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt

Add:
1 C. water
1/3 C. cooking oil
1 T. vinegar
1 t. vanilla

Beat well.

Fill muffin tines lined with paper cups 1/3 full with chocolate batter. Top each one with a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees form approximately 25 minutes. Makes two dozen.

(Note: If you are using a Pampered Chef muffin pan, it will take about 25 minutes. If you are using a traditional metal pan, it will probably only take about 18-20 minutes. If the cream cheese just barely starts to get brown on the top, they’re done.)