Happy birthday Mr X! Cookie monster cookies

As I mentioned in my last post, Mr X loves cookies. So I really wanted to incorporate cookies into his birthday cake. I came across some adorable cookie monster cupcakes using a google search. There are multiple sites featuring cookie monster cookies - by no means did I come up with something that cute and clever myself!


Ingredients:
Banana cupcakes, popular with Mr X (Recipe makes 16).
Cookies (Qty 8)
Cream cheese icing tinted with blue food dye.
White chocolate buttons (Qty of at least 32)
Dark chocolate, melted (Approx 6-8 squares)


Equipment:
Microwave safe bowl to melt the chocolate
Toothpicks


Method:

White chocolate button eyes 
Dip a toothpick in melted dark chocolate and add a small circles of dark chocolate to each white chocolate button. Try and make them all a similar size but don't be concerned if they all look a little different, I think it adds to the cookie monsters character. Leave to dry.

Icing
Slowly add blue food dye to the cream cheese icing until you achieve desired blue consistency. I made the icing the day before I needed it and left it in the fridge over night so it was nice and firm.


Bake cupcakes and cookies according to their instructions, and leave to cool to room temperature.

To assemble the cupcakes
Cover a cupcake with cream cheese frosting. You want it to be relatively smooth but not too smooth - you are creating a monster, after all. Add the eyes and the cookie - you may need to use a little more icing to hold the cookie in place. The icing will act as "glue". I popped them into the fridge to firm up. 

I know, there are a few steps involved if you make the cookies and cupcakes from scratch. I personally think it is worth baking them yourself, but that is entirely up to you. But once you get to the assembly stage, it all comes together quickly.

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies stuffed with chocolate ganache

Whenever I ask Mr X his opinion on what I should bake, the answer usually is "cookies". I had been wanting to bake a cookie that had oats in it (that wasn't ANZAC cookies) for a while, probably to trick myself into thinking I was baking a "healthier" version of something he loves. When I came across this recipe I couldn't wait to try it.


To increase the chocolate factor (and therefore probably cancelling out any healthy bonus points from the oats), I added a ball of chocolate ganache to the centre. Yummmmmm.

The recipe makes approx 36 cookies. The cookies turn out thick and soft on the inside with a slightly crispy shell. Bake them all at once - or freeze some and bake at a later date.
Cookie recipe from Brown eyed Baker

Ingredients:

3 cups plain flour
1½ cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1 3/4 cups top deck chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped

Chocolate ganache, frozen, to stuff cookies with (approx 1/2 cup)

Method:

Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat both sugars ad the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

Add a third of the flour and beat it into the sugar/butter/egg mixture, mixing only until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour - do not overmix.

Using a large wooden spoon, gently mix in the oats, then the chocolate chips.

I use an ice cream scoop for easy cookie making. Roll ice cream scoop sized balls of cookie dough. If you are inserting some ganache (you should), do it like this: 

Place on baking paper lined baking tray approx 5 cm apart (they flatten and spread while baking). You should be able to fit about 9 comfortably on a tray. Bake cookies until they are lightly golden on the outside but still soft (they firm up when cooled), about 12 - 14 minutes. I bake my cookies in batches, one tray at a time. I pop one tray in the oven and roll the next batch while they are baking, but it is up to you how you do it. If you bake two trays at a time, switch oven trays from top to bottom at the 7 minute mark to ensure even baking. Remove from oven and leave to cool before removing from baking trays. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.