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My dear friend Michelle is from the Netherlands and her straightforward Dutch directness is one of the things I admire most about her. She is due in about 6 weeks and was more anti-baby shower than anyone I've ever met, thank God. She was adamantly against anything that involved games, baby pink or frills of any sort. I get it, I'd be the exact same way. And, I have a feeling that most of us visibly gag over the idea tasting baby food or playing diaper detective in a game of "guess the candy bar poo". We are better than this and all of the Mamas-To-Be deserve more than enduring the humiliation of grown-ass adults spoon-feeding each other applesauce while blindfolded. No thanks.
Instead of putting us all through the embarrassment of baby shower games in front of mama and the Dutch Baby in the oven, we opted to treat Michelle to a much deserved day away with a cabana at The Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara. We kept the babyness to a minimum so Michelle could just relax and enjoy her beautiful, glowing self for the day. We were all well aware of her aversion to ruffles and pink on pink, so the baby gifts kept to an unspoken but pretty strict black and white theme, with just a sprinkle of pink for good measure. I've often joked with her that she's going to have a goth baby
who only wears black and an emo pout.
Anti-pink ingredients
Out of much respect for the anti-pink clause, I kept the dessert on theme with these Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes. They've got all the cuteness of the classic frosted animal cookies but with a more refined and posh twist. They start with deep, dark chocolatey cupcakes layered with both Dutch process cocoa powder
and melted dark chocolate chips
. The frosting is a simple, fluffy vanilla
cream cheese
frosting that just gets slathered on top instead of intricately piped into a fussy design. The cherry on top of these Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes is obviously the handmade, all white frosted animal cookies dipped in white chocolate
. Just because these Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes aren't painted in pink, doesn't mean they are't as cute as a pigs tail. FYI, you can find all kinds of animal cookie cutters on Amazon.
I couldn't be more excited for the exemplary expectant parents and cannot wait to meet this stylish little babe at the end of July. She's going to be one hip little darling, just like her hot and sassy mama. And, I look forward to the day when she's eating solid foods so I can sneak her a few of these Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes. Nothing better than being an "aunty" with a bad influence and an endless supply of sugary treats. Sign me up!
Animal cookie shapes
First thing is first, you've got to prepare the Animal Cookies. They're pretty easy to make and well worth the effort for the cuteness factor. I slightly adapted my original recipe for Frosted Animal Cookies for this recipe.How to dip or frost animal cookies
before the white chocolate coating hardens so they have something to stick to.
and dark chocolate chips
. Dressed in all black cupcakes liners
, these are cupcakes are equally chic and cheeky.Mixing chocolate cupcake batter
Beat the butter and sugars together until creamy, light and fluffy.
Smooth, melty chocolate give the Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes a deep flavor.
Fold the last bit of the flour mixture into the batter by hand so you don't over-mix the batter.Scooping batter into cupcake liners
lined with black cupcake liners
using a cookie scoop
.How the cupcakes should look after baking
.
while you prepare the frosting.How to make cream cheese frosting
the powdered sugar 
for a super smooth and fluffy cream cheese
frosting.
to smooth out cream cheese frosting.Beauty shots of Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes
Top each cupcake with a frosted animal cookie, I think the pig is my favorite.
Gangs all here. These Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes are almost too dang cute to eat.
Why choose when you can have all of the Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes?!
Recipe
Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 cupcakes
Description
All of the cuteness of the classic frosted animal cookies but with a more refined and posh twist, these Black and White Animal Cookie Cupcakes start with deep, dark chocolatey cupcakes. Then get slathered with a simple, fluffy vanilla cream cheese frosting and topped with homemade, all white Frosted Animal Cookies.
Ingredients
FROSTED ANIMAL COOKIES
- SEE BELOW FOR LINK TO INSTRUCTIONS
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
- ¾ cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teas pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup cake or pastry flour
- 1 teas baking soda
- ½ teas salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature (1 ½ sticks)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 3 large eggs (at room temperature)
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese (at room temperature)
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature (1 stick)
- ½ teas fine salt
- 2 teas pure vanilla extract
- 4 ½ cups powdered sugar (sifted)
Instructions
FROSTED ANIMAL COOKIES
- Use original FROSTED ANIMAL COOKIES recipe here http://bakingthegoods.com/2014/02/02/frosted-animal-cookies-recipe/ . To adapt for this recipe, only use white chocolate coating and white sprinkles instead of pink coating and rainbow sprinkles.
*This recipe makes more cookies than needed for the cupcakes, but who doesn't want extra Frosted Animal Cookies around?
CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line muffin tin(s) with 18 cupcake liners.
- In a small saucepan, bring ¾ cup of water to a boil. In a medium heatproof bowl, combine the cocoa powder and the boiling water. Whisk until the cocoa has dissolved into the water. Add the dark chocolate chips and stir until the mixture is completely smooth, about 1 minute. Allow the mix to cool slightly for a couple of minutes and then stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times with a rubber spatula.
- Reduce the mixer to a low speed and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again.
- With the mixer on low, mix in ⅓ of the flour mixture, followed by half of the chocolate mixture. Then another ⅓ of the flour mixture and the remaining chocolate. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a rubber spatula to fold in the rest of the flour mixture just until the dry ingredients are barely mixed in. Careful not to over-mix.
- Using a cookie or ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the lined muffin cups, filling each ¾ full.
- Bake for 26-30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the bake time. The cupcakes are ready when the centers have puffed up slightly and have a springy top. Test by inserting a toothpick in the center of a cupcake, it should come out clean.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven allowing them to cool in the pan for about 10-15 minutes. Then remove them from the pans and allow them to cool on a wire rack while you prepare the frosting.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese and butter on a medium high speed for about 5-7 minutes, until soft and creamy. Periodically stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the salt and vanilla and mix for an additional minute until fully incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through.
- With the mixer on lowest speed, add the sifted powdered sugar in a few additions. Scrape down the bowl and then beat the mix for a couple more minutes until light and smooth. The frosting should be smooth but not runny and slightly stiff so it holds it's shape. If the consistency seems too soft, add more sifted powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
ASSEMBLING THE FROSTED ANIMAL COOKIE CUPCAKES
- Slather the tops of the cupcakes with a couple of tablespoons worth of frosting, using an offset spatula to spread the frosting.
- Top with frosted animal cookies and serve!
Notes
Chocolate Cupcake recipe adapted from The Best Chocolate Cupcakes recipe in the One Girl Cookies cookbook by Dawn Casale & David Crofton.
Recipe for Frosted Animal Cookies available at http://bakingthegoods.com/2014/02/02/frosted-animal-cookies-recipe/ and adapted from the Williams Sonoma recipe for Animal Cracker Cookies.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
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