A magic cupcake

Yes, I said Magic. This is beyond your typical cupcake. I really like making baked goods from scratch but I decided with all that was going into this cupcake I could take some shortcuts. I made a homemade cream cheese butter cream icing for the top and the cake mix has a few added ingredients in it to boost up the flavor. Make these and you will not be disappointed!

Yes, that is a big pile of cookie dough, pre-made.. making it easy today! How can you go wrong with those ingredients? And then, look what happens when you mix up all your ingredients and put it in your paper liners....

You take about 1 tsp of the cookie dough, roll it up and put it right down in the center of the batter. Then cover it with a little more batter so the dough is completely covered. MAGIC!

I had some helpers along the way this time, and they pretty much approved of the batter...what's that saying..."The proof is in the pudding??" Or in this case...on their little faces!

Using the ingredients pictured below I made the frosting, as if the cupcake needed anything else added to it! But indeed, the frosting always makes the cupcake!

And then you get this. Something with a sweet surprise in the center and a very delicious cupcake. I had a lot of positive feedback on these and think I will be making them again soon!

Here they are all lined up in my container and ready to send off with Doug to work. I had some left over cookie dough and made some tiny cookies, but didn't like how they turned out, so only one cupcake got a crispy cookie on top!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

adapted from My Baking Addiction

(this is one of my favorite baking blogs that I have followed for a very long time!)

1 box of devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup warm water

one package of refrigerated cookie dough

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tin with either paper liners or cooking spray. In a large bowl mix together the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and warm water. Distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells. I used the recommendation of about 3 TBLS of batter per muffin well. Break up cookie dough and take about a tsp. of dough and roll into a ball. Drop in the center of the cupcake and using a spoon, or adding a little more batter cover the cookie dough completely.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick entered into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Remove cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

from Glorious Treats

1/2 cup butter (one stick) Set at room temperature for 10 minutes, should still be cold

8 oz. cream cheese directly from fridge

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups powdered confectioners sugar

1-4 TBLS. Heavy whipping cream or milk

Begin by putting the butter in large mixing bowl and mix slightly. Add cream cheese and combine for about 30 seconds. Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium until mixture becomes fluffy. Begin to add the whipping cream, a TBLS. at a time till you reach the desired consistency. I usually add about 3 because I don't want it to be too runny when I pipe it on the cupcake. Beat about a minute till fluffy. This will be more than enough to spread on the cupcakes and should frost about 22-24 cupcakes if you pipe on your frosting.

Enjoy! And don't tell anyone what's inside, it is much more fun to see their faces when they bite into the unexpected!