Baby boy! (Plus: cookie monster cupcakes)

Part 1: Cupcakes

Note: I first tried this recipe (swapping out the red coloring for blue) in an attempt to get blue velvet cupcakes for cookie monster’s body. They came out deliciously moist, but black, so I tweaked this basic cupcake instead.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50 drops (American) liquid blue food coloring

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C. Line muffin trays with paper cups.

2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.

3. In a small bowl, combine flour with salt and baking powder. Add to the mixer, alternating with milk, in three additions. Beat well, then add vanilla and food coloring and beat until the color is evenly distributed.

4. Fill cupcake liners about three-quarters of the way (a little more is fine) and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Cupcakes freeze well.

Part 2: Chocolate chip cookies
Adapted from Can’t Stop Baking

Ingredients

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice, and beat for about 3 minutes, until very creamy.

3. Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined. Add chocolate chips and mix briefly, just to distribute them in the batter. Form the dough into balls the size of a half-teaspoon and flatten with the palm of your hand.

4. Bake for 11 minutes, let cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, and transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Cookies freeze well. When you’re ready to use them, slice each in half to get the right shape for filling cookie monster’s mouth.

Part 3: The fur!

Ingredients

• 400 grams shredded, ground coconut (2-3 cups)
• about half a bottle of American liquid blue food coloring (or enough to achieve the desired color)
• gallon-size Ziploc bag

Directions

1. Fill the Ziploc bag about halfway with coconut and squeeze food coloring drops all over. Seal the bag, keeping as little air inside as possible, and smush everything around to distribute the color. This is a trial-and-error thing, so just add coloring and smush as needed.

2. Spread out the dyed coconut on a large baking sheet and let it dry (covered) overnight. You will probably have more than you need, but since it needs to be dyed in advance, it’s better to have too much than to get stuck at the last minute with too little.

Part 4: Buttercream frosting
Slightly adapted from the Food Network

Ingredients

• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 10 drops blue food coloring

Directions

1. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and butter on speed 1 until combined. Increase to speed 3 and beat for another 3 minutes.

2. Add vanilla and milk and beat for 1 more minute on speed 3. The frosting should be soft and easily spreadable. Reserve a spoonful. Add food coloring to the rest of it as desired.

Part 5: Eyeballs

Ingredients

• round white candies (I used Gefen’s pareve Wonder Melts)
• chocolate chips
• reserved buttercream frosting from part 4

Directions

1. To create cookie monster’s eyes, use a tiny amount of frosting to “glue” chocolate chips onto the edges of the white candies. For best results, you’ll want to place each pair of eyes right next to each other in the cupcakes so that the chocolate chips are close to the center (like in this photo).

Part 6: Assembly

1. Use a regular dinner knife to spread a light coat of buttercream frosting on each cupcake. Roll the top of the cupcake in the dyed coconut to cover completely.

2. Use a sharp knife with a small point to cut slits near the top of the cupcake. The slits should be long enough for the white candy eyeballs to just fit inside — you want them to have somewhere to “sit” so they don’t flop over.

3. Cut a small wedge towards the bottom of the cupcake, making sure it can accommodate the cookie half. Carefully stuff cookie monster’s mouth with a halved cookie (or even a whole one, if it’s small enough and if you cut a large-enough wedge for it). Present with pride!