(Cookie Monster Cupcakes by the Cupcake Crusaders. Photo by Kenneth Adam Photography.)

We Crusaders adore our nieces. We’d do anything for them and for our big sister. So when she asked if we could help throw her daughter Lily a Cookie Monster themed 2nd birthday and make, “those Cookie Monster cupcakes,” we said, “Easy-peasy!” And guess what? They ARE easy!

(Some of the party details: Balloons, bags with custom labels, and of course Cookie Monster. Photo on the right by Kenneth Adam Photography.)

You’ve probably seen Cookie Monster cupcakes on the internet. There are different ways to go about doing it, but the one I followed more closely was from Bird On A Cake, with just a few adjustments.

I started with boxed cake mix for the cupcakes and baked chocolate chip cookies, using Pillsbury dough. Then I cut slits in the cake, as Bird On A Cake suggested. Bird On A Cake used Famous Amos mini cookies, but I planned to break my larger cookies in half. While I was cutting out slits I thought, “Wait, why am I doing this? I’m not inserting a mini cookie.” But then figured it would still keep the cookie half in place, since there isn’t a lot of frosting when using the “grass” piping tip.

(I made my cuts larger for the bigger cookies and really pressed the cookies into place so that they would stay put.)

For the frosting I used the same recipe from our Cadbury Creme Egg cupcakes, with only vanilla extract. To get the blue I wanted, I purchased Wilton’s Royal Blue gel dye, adding a little at a time until I had the desired color. After piping the frosting I added the Wilton White Candy Melts for the eyes, and then used Wilton’s Ready-to-Use black frosting and a fine point decorating tip to pipe black dots. Once that was all done, I pressed the chocolate chip cookie half into the slit for the final, finished look.

(Photo by Kenneth Adam Photography.)

I also whipped up some cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting. This was a first for me, and for some reason I’ve been afraid of making chocolate frosting. I don’t know why and it proved to be just as easy as vanilla buttercream! I used a recipe from The Food Network, with modifications (I’m beginning to think I can’t do anything straight forward). I used Hershey’s Dark Chocolate cocoa powder, doubling the amount called for, added in an extra stick of butter, and 1 additional cup of confectioner’s sugar.

(Cupcakes topped with Cookie Crisp cereal. Photo by Kenneth Adam Photography.)

The end result for the frosting was stiffer than I expected, but the frosting still remained smooth. It was dark, rich, not too sweet, and turned out to be even more popular than the cute Cookie Monster Cupcakes!

(All the cupcakes arranged together created just the right amount of color and cookies. Photo by Kenneth Adam Photography.)

The party was a huge hit and the theme was pulled off effortlessly. I was glad to help from the start, designing the invitation, to the end, hosting the party at my house and making the cupcakes.

(Invitation designed by myself.)

The weather was amazing and everyone had a great time. It even seemed like guests didn’t want to leave! I also got to make cookie pops, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while now!

(Photo on the left by Kenneth Adam Photography.)

Although I may have been exhausted by the end of the day, the party also made me look forward to Leah’s 2nd birthday coming up in just a few months. I hope I can bring together the color scheme, cupcakes, and other treats as well as we did for my niece’s party!

– Posted by Cupcake Crusader, Jenn (Westminster, MD)