Got Milk?: Cream Cheese Chocolate Cupcakes

So.
This is a recipe that feels like I've made it many times.  I'm not sure that I actually have, but I feel like I have.  The combination of cream cheese and chocolate is classic, and when combined in cupcake form it's sublime.  Especially when the centres are still a little warm and gooey when you take these to a potluck.
J and I were invited to a BBQ/potluck this summer, and I decided to make a dessert to take without really knowing what I'd have in the house and what I'd ultimately make.  I pulled out my cakes magazine to find something that would appeal to large age group for which I actually had the ingredients in the house to make.
I found these.  And while I didn't have the peanut butter chips called for the in the original, I did have enough chocolate chips in the cupboard between the ends of a few different bags (mini, regular and chunks) to make up the 2 cups of chips called for in the filling.  That's right; 2 cups.  Don't skimp.  The filling makes a chocolate cupcake that keeps them coming back for more.
I present to you now from Shirley Dunbar of Mojave, CA, Cream Cheese Chocolate Cupcakes:

Ingredients:
For the Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
2 c chocolate chips (I used a mixture of mini, regular and chocolate chunks)
For the cupcake:
1-1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c water
1/3 c oil
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl, beat cheese, sugar and egg until smooth.  Fold in chocolate chips and set aside.
2.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, coca, baking soda and salt.  Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Mix well.
3.  Line 18 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.  Fill liners half full with chocolate batter.  Top each chocolate batter with 2 Tbsp of the cream cheese mixture.  Bake at 350F  for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
4.  Cool 10 minutes in the muffin pan before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

From Taste of Home (I have Taste of Home's Cakes for All Occasions, 2006)

These stirred together quickly.  You can see all the remnants of bags of chocolate chips from the baking cupboard.  They didn't affect the overall taste.  I would like to try these again with the peanut butter chips, though.

It didn't look like a whole lot going into the oven, but these rose and became big and gorgeous.

See?
They were still a little warm in the middle when we left for the potluck, but that was okay because that meant the chips were still melty when we ate them.  I may not have made them before, but I'm sure I'll make them again!