May means Mother’s Day, and the way to this mother’s heart is through chocolate!  As much as I love chocolate, though, I’m not a huge fan of chocolate cake. But give me some vanilla cupcakes with chocolate accents, and now we’re talking!  I found this Chocolate Chip Cupcake tasty treat that can easily be adapted in all kinds of fun ways to make moms’ mouths’ water.

Instead of chocolate chips, substitute Snocaps! (non-pareils) You’ll still get that bittersweet bite, but with an added sweet surge from the white candy micro-beads as well.

Or, how about some sweet Sixlets, in any color of the rainbow? Take it one step further and add a splash of your mom’s favorite color with food coloring to your batter and/or icing. Imagine pale pink cupcakes with pink Sixlets in the cupcake as well as in [or on top of] the frosting.

You will need: (for an easy alternative, see below *)

> 3 1/4 cup sifted cake flour (not self-rising)

> 1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

> 1/4 teaspoon salt

> 7 ounce (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

> 1 3/4 cup sugar

> 1 cup + 2 tablespoons milk

> 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

> 5 large egg whites, room temperature

> 2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Or, use nonpareils or Sixlets)

> Chocolate Chip Icing (Or, use basic vanilla or buttercream icing, and mix in Sixlets or crushed non-pareils in place of chocolate chips)

Directions:

> Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

> Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. In a separate bowl, mix milk and vanilla together. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with milk mixture, and ending with dry ingredients.

> Beat egg whites to stiff peaks, and fold into batter. Fold in chocolate chips, Sixlets, or crushed non-pareils. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

> Bake cupcakes 22 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. After cooling, frost with icing.  For best results, keep cupcakes in refrigerator until a few minutes before serving.

* If you are in a hurry, hate to bake, and/or are working with children on the project, use a simple white cake boxed cake mix, but add in the non-pareils or Sixlets (and the food coloring, if you choose), and follow the baking directions on the box for cupcakes.