“This is the song
La la la la
ELMO’S SONG
La la la la
La la la la
ELMO’S SOOONG!!!”

Elmo’s here too! Now, who doesn’t love Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes?

It was Diego’s birthday, and Papa Leif invited Brad and I. He had it at Kids Market on Granville Island. Apparently I was the only one confused when Brad mentioned “Kids Only Market” as the venue. Everyone who grew up in Vancouver has had their birthdays there as a child at least once! You could say it was the equivalent of hosting a kid’s birthday party at McDonald’s.

Brad and I decided to make some Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes for the birthday boy and his little guests. (Actually it was my decision and Brad was forced obligated to help me 🙂 )

Aren’t those kids sooooo cuute? And I really love how multi-cultural Vancouver is! All kids from different walks coming together. 🙂

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcakes from Joy of Baking: This will make 12 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk

Cookie Monster:

• 12 white chocolate chips
• 12 milk chocolate chips
• Blue dye
• 50g shredded coconut
• 6 chocolate chip cookies

Elmo:

• 12 white chocolate chips
• 12 milk chocolate chips
• Red dye, black / brown dye
• 50g shredded coconut
• Orange Skittles

Icing: You may refer to my first post for the icing recipe

• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 1/8 cup butter
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 12 cupcake liners.

In the bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl whisk together the lemon zest, flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and milk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and beat until smooth.

Evenly fill the cupcake liners with the batter and bake for about 17 – 20 minutes or just until set and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Always check a few minutes before the stated baking time. Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

For step by step instructions with visual aid, please refer to my very first post for the Cookie Monster Cupcake! The construction of Elmo is fairly similar with the exception of the cookie and inclusion of an orange Skittle for his nose, and using brown / black dye with frosting for its mouth.

How precious! 🙂 The cupcakes were a hit! Everyone thought they were absolutely adorable. There were a lot of wows and whoas, and they were all gone almost instantly. It was funny seeing some of the parents trying to hold their temptations. “I don’t wanna appear like a jerk in front of everyone, eating the cupcakes before the kids will have a chance to. But they do look so good!” said one of them.

“He wrote the music
He wrote the words
Thaaaaat’s Elmo’s SOOOOOOONG!”