"C is for cookie, that's good enough for me.."

On a cold Thursday morning, as I was curled up on the couch watching Sesame Street with my little brother, an idea had miraculously popped into mind. COOKIE MONSTER CUPCAKES! I thought it was a brilliant idea; although there were probably a thousand different versions of it out there. I was definitely intrigued and I had to get down to business right away.

 As I typed "Cookie Monster cupcakes" in google search, a number of links appeared on my screen. I had to click them all to see what was so different about each recipe. None of them however, looked appealing. A recipe that disgustingly caught my attention involved blue dessicated coconut, Oreo biscuits and cream as part of their ingredients. That recipe was definitely the final straw. I thought to myself, The only way to make this cupcake work is to actually use your imagination and keep the recipe simple! From there it was decided that vanilla butter cake with frosting was the way to go! Two things that always go remarkably well together.

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So! What you'll need is the following ingredients:

Note: the following recipe makes 8 (muffin sized) cupcakes!

Vanilla butter cake:

• 90 grams of softened butter
• 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of sifted self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons of milk

 Frosting:

• 125 grams of softened butter
• 1 and 1/2 cups of sifted icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 5 drops of blue food colouring

Cookie Monster's eyes:

• 16 white chocolate buttons
• 16 milk chocolate bits / chips.
• Small amount of the frosting mixture

Cookie Monster's mouth:

• 8 cookies of choice. ( I chose "Harvest Kitchen's triple choc cookies" - available at Woolies)

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Method:

1.  Preheat your oven to 160 -180 degrees Celsius. Line muffin pan with paper cases. 
2.  Combine butter, vanilla extract, caster sugar, eggs, flour and milk with a whisk or an electric beater until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is paler in colour. 
3.  Divide the mixture amongst the paper cases. It is essential that you fill the cases no more than half way!
4. Place the cakes in the preheated oven. Once the cupcakes have fully risen, insert a butter knife in the centre of one and pull it out. If the knife comes out clean, the cupcakes are cooked. Turn the cupcakes onto a rack to cool.
5. Make the frosting. Beat the softened butter in a bowl with an electric beater until it is fluffy and paler in colour. Beat the sifted icing sugar and milk in two batches. Once the mixture is incorporated, add the 5 drops of blue food colouring. Set aside until the cupcakes are cool!*Note: Do not put the frosting mixture in the fridge as it will harden and make it difficult to spread. Frosting should always be at room temperature!*
6. For the eyes, dip the bottom of the milk chocolate chips in a bit of frosting and stick them on the white chocolate buttons.
7. Assemble the cupcakes. Spread a decent amount of frosting on each of the cupcakes. Using a butter knife, place 3 slits on each of the cupcakes (2 for the eyes and 1 for the mouth).  Stick the eyes and cookies where you have made the incisions.  

And the end result:

Serve immediately and ENJOY! :o)

Last but not least, some tips :)

• To achieve Cookie Monster's  'furry' look, using the tip of the butter knife, flick some of the mixture upwards whilst spreading the frosting on each cupcake.
• For the lucky ones with kids, this is an excellent recipe to make with them. Make it a memorable moment and GO WILD!