Cinnamon and chocolate cupcakes are little comforts made with love. They are perfect as a gift for someone you care about, or to bring to the table after lunch instead of panettone or pandoro. And if we dunk them in warm milk at breakfast they become irresistible… just like this morning, when they made my day sweeter from the very first bite.

Here are some other Christmas sweets to drool over

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Cooking time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 12 pieces
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients for cinnamon and chocolate cupcakes

7/8 cup plain yogurt (natural)
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 pinch salt
Half packet baking powder (about 2 tsp (≈8 g))
2/3 cup heavy cream (liquid)
7 oz dark chocolate
to taste fondant (white or colored)

Tools

1 Kitchen appliance Bimby TM31 – TM5 – TM6
3 Bowls
1 Whisk electric or manual
Muffin tins
12 Cupcake liners paper muffin liners
1 Teaspoon
1 Rolling pin
1 Cookie cutter leaf-shaped
Edible markers Or gel food coloring
1 Small bowl small
1 Small saucepan

Preparation of cinnamon and chocolate cupcakes

WITHOUT BIMBY: Put the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking powder) (1) then whisk well (2).
In another bowl put all the liquids (oil, egg and yogurt) (3).
Whisk well (4) until the mixture is homogeneous.
Then combine the two preparations (5), mix and add the chocolate chips (6).
Stir until blended; the batter will be thick, not too runny.
With a spoon fill the muffin liners to 3/4 full (7) and bake in a preheated oven at 356°F (static) for 30 minutes.
While the cupcakes bake, start preparing the decorations. Roll out the fondant with a rolling pin (8) then cut out leaf shapes with a cutter; you need 2 leaves per cupcake, so a total of 24 leaves. Also shape 3 little balls per cupcake by hand, so 36 in total.
Let them dry for a couple of minutes and then color them with edible markers (9). Alternatively you can use gel food coloring diluted with a few drops of water and applied with brushes, like tempera.
Once the cupcakes are baked and completely cooled, warm the heavy cream in a small saucepan. As soon as it nears boiling, pour it over the chopped dark chocolate placed in a bowl.
Stir very well until the chocolate is completely melted, then dip the cupcakes only on the top into the melted chocolate. Place them on a wire rack and finally decorate each with two leaves and three little balls.
I only had white fondant at home, which I then colored, but you can use pre-colored fondant available in stores.

WITH BIMBY: Put the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon into the mixing bowl, run at speed 3 for 10 seconds.
Then add the oil, yogurt and egg, run at speed 4 for 20 seconds. Add the chocolate chips and fold in with a spatula.
Then continue as described above from step 7.