Cookie Monster Cupcakes

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

My sister Summer found these adorable Cookie Monster cupcakes from With Our Best, complete with crumbly cookies in the mouths! These definitely take me back to my childhood days of watching Sesame Street and watching Cookie Monster get his ferocious nom nom on.

Red Velvet Cupcakes for Logan's First Birthday

It was an absolute joy celebrating my son, Logan's, first birthday! The year went by so fast and was full of many learning experiences {for example, I learned the true meaning of "exhaustion"!}. My husband really wanted me to make red velvet cupcakes for Logan's birthday party and I was more than happy to oblige! Logan's cupcake didn't have frosting on it because I thought it would be too much sugar for him at this age, so instead I topped his with his favorite organic peach yogurt {YoBaby brand from Stoneyfield}.

The majority of red velvet cupcakes had cream cheese frosting but I did make two with buttercream for my sister who doesn't like cream cheese {and all the cheesecakes in the world breath a sigh of relief!}.

Tissue pom poms I made hanging above our island. The hubbs brought how a whole bunch of balloons and the ribbons tied to each one were way too long. So he trimmed the balloons' ribbons, handed me them to me, and said, "Here, maybe you can make something with these." Those are seriously the best words you could ever tell me! So I taped them to the bottom of each pom to give it a "comet" kind of look.

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe (makes 24 cupcakes)

{350 degrees, 15-18 minutes}

~2 cups milk {I used whole cow's milk, but you can even use soy milk in vanilla or chocolate for a truly vegan recipe}

~2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

~2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

~2 cups granulated sugar

~4 tablespoons cocoa powder

~1 teaspoon baking powder

~1 teaspoon baking soda

~1 teaspoon salt

~2/3 cup canola oil

~3 1/2 tablespoons red food coloring {you're certainly welcome to use more, it just so happened that a brand new bottle of McCormick's had this amount in it, about 1 ounce}

Extracts:

~5 teaspoons vanilla extract

~1 teaspoon almond extract

~OR~

~4 teaspoons vanilla extract

~1/2 teaspoon almond extract

~2 teaspoons chocolate extract {Chocolate extract can be a little tricky to find, I've only seen it at Sur la Table but never in a grocery store}

1) Whisk milk with apple cider vinegar in one bowl, set aside

2) Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, & salt in a second bowl

3) Whisk in oil, food coloring, extracts to the milk and vinegar in the first bowl

4) Gently fold wet ingredients into dry {first bowl into second bowl} and mix until large lumps disappear

5) Fill cupcake liners two-thirds full, bake 15-18 minutes

Cream Cheese Frosting

~1 stick {1/2 cup} unsalted butter at room temp

~1 package {8 oz} cream cheese at room temp

~3-4 cups of powdered sugar

~1/4 cup milk

~1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1) With a hand mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and slowly add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add milk and vanilla after 2 cups of powdered sugar have been added.