Owl Cupcakes

My cupcakes made the Foodbuzz Top 9!

A few weeks ago was my middle sister's 21st birthday! One of the ways I helped her celebrate was to surprise her with homemade cookies & cream cupcakes in the shape of her favorite animal, the owl.

I stuffed them full of as many organic cream cookies as I could - on the bottom of the cupcake, in the batter, in the icing, and of course cookies for eyes. They were a big hit! The cupcake was dense, but not overly sweet and the icing was also not too sugary. We lounged around the pool while eating these cute treats without a care in the world.

The cupcake recipe is from Annie's Eats, but I used all organic ingredients and 2 boxes of Newman's organic cream cookies. And the frosting recipe is from The Pioneer Woman, also all organic ingredients, and I just added 6 tablespoons of crushed cookie from the leftover halves of the cookies that I crushed in my spice grinder. I bought a new 11-wire whisk for my Kitchenaid mixer and used it for the first time to make the frosting, but it immediately made butter. Oops. I was so shocked at the immediate transformation that I forgot to take photos of the frosting, but these cupcakes were easy and didn't take long to make. At least I found a faster way to make butter! I put the leftover frosting in a plastic bag with a piping tip attached and piped on the little feathers and eyes. The beak is a piece of saltless mini-pretzels. These cupcakes are a great treat, even without the extra steps to turn them into cute little owls.

Happy 21st Birthday, Kate!

Update: Visit my Flickr album to get step-by-step photos of making the cupcakes!