Every Day is Lemur's Birthday: Cookies & Cupcakes

Since we have been celebrating Lemur's birthday so often around here, I've been doing some serious baking. I mean, what is a party without sweet treats?


First up, Dark Chocolate and Mint Chip Cookies.


INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels

PREHEAT oven to 325° F.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


The only problem with this recipe is that the Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels are a seasonal item. Each Christmas, I buy about a case. Every year, I run out around St. Patrick's Day. (The batch pictured above is the last of my stash.) If you see them in your grocery store, snatch them up and send them to me. Seriously.


Next we made adorable fish cupcakes.

These are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing that has been colored with food coloring. We used M&Ms for the eyes, lips and fins. The tails are made of jelly bean fruit slices. They were easy and super fun to make, and unlike the April Fools Cupcakes, Connor had no problems with gobbling these right up!

We also made Potato Chip Cookies.


Basically you just add two cups of crushed potato chips to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I used regular Lays potato chips. They were delicious, and they were gone very quickly. You can read more about them here.

Last, and certainly not least, we made Cookie-Stuffed Cookies.

These are a serious cookie. They are huge, and each one is basically three cookies.

I won't bother repeating the instructions here, as this blog has done it so well already. We made oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip cookies for the first try, but I think I would like to try a cookie stuffed with a grasshopper next.