When asked how she got into baking, Mindy Segal grins. "I'll be honest with you," she says. "Between the ages of 12 and 14, I was grounded every weekend." She needed an outlet for her energy, and found it in the kitchen. Segal now has her own restaurant–dessert bar in Chicago called HotChocolate, and has been a nominee for the James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef award for each of the past three years. The treat she created for
O has elements of the best-sellers at her shop—tiny chocolate cupcakes with scooped-out centers lined with chocolate shells that are filled with liquid butterscotch, topped with milk chocolate buttercream, and decorated with toffee pieces and other miniature confections. "I wanted to create a pastry sensation in a cupcake," says Segal. "You put it in your mouth, the chocolate shell pops, and the smooth cream flows out."
Get the recipe: Mindy Segal's Milk Chocolate and Milk Stout Cupcakes
Plus: Mindy Segal's favorite thing to make
