Ooey Gooey Cupcakes

If you like boston cream donuts, you will LOVE these cupcakes!

Ingredients;
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 tub of milk chocolate frosting
1 container of cool whip
1 box of vanilla pudding

Directions:
1. Prepare cupcakes as directed on the back of the cake box and allow ample time to cool.
2. Prepare vanilla pudding while cupcakes are cooling.
3. Mix vanilla pudding with 1/2 of the carton of cool whip.
4. Pour pudding/cool whip mixture into a pastry bag with a tip that has a round hole.
5. Place tip of pastry bag into the middle of the cupcake and fill with mixture. Fill it until it reaches the top of the cupcake. Do this to all of the cupcakes.
6. Frost cupcakes with frosting.
ENJOY!!

Root Beer Cupcakes

Summer is just a few days away and I cannot wait! But with the start of summer comes the end of another fabulous school year. For the end of the year party I decided to make root beer floats for my class. I found this recipe in a recent magazine that I thought would go perfectly with the floats. I used margarine, egg beaters, and doubled all the spices. I thought all changes worked out perfectly. I also didn't have the root beer candies, so I used used sprinkles. They tasted like a spice cake with a root beer aftertaste. I would make these again but would do a cream cheese frosting instead of vanilla.
Root Beer Cupcakes
12 ServingsPrep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min. + cooling

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup root beer
1-1/2 cups whipped topping
12 root beer barrel candies, crushed

Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with root beer, beating well after each addition.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Just before serving, combine whipped topping and crushed candies; frost cupcakes. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 1 dozen.

S'mores Cupcakes

I came across this recipe on Facebook and it looked delicious. I needed a dessert to bring to a football party and this was the perfect recipe to test out! I had never made cupcakes from scratch before, so I was a bit nervous. I followed the directions to a T and the cupcakes were easier to make than I thought they would be. I brought them to the party and they were enjoyed by everyone. They were a little messy (lots of crumbs), so next time I will use less batter so they can be more of a one bite cupcake. I will definitely make these again!

S’mores Cupcakes
Yields 30 cupcakes

For the graham crust:
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 - 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the cupcakes:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the topping:
Marshmallow Frosting (recipe below)
Finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
Chocolate sprinkles (jimmies, for those of us from New England!)

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.
2. Combine 1/4 cup sugar,graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of graham crakcer mix into the bottom of each muffin cup. Press crumbs firmly, using the bottom of a small glass. Save the remaining mixture for topping.
4. Top graham cracker mix with several bittersweet chocolate chips.
5. Bake graham mixture for about five minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
6. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.
7. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir until well blended.
8. Add flour mixture to large bowl and beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
9. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
10. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full with batter (about 1/4 cup).
11. Sprinkle batter with small amount of remaining graham cracker mixture.
12. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely

Marshmallow Frosting
Yields enough frosting for 30 cupcakes

2 1/4 cups marshmallow creme (about 8 oz.)
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream together shortening and marshmallow creme.
2. Beat in about 1/2 of the water, followed by half of the powdered sugar.
3. Add the remaining powdered sugar and enough water to bring the frosting to a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Assembling the cupcakes:

1. Spoon a small amount of frosting onto the center of the cupcake and spread towards the edges with a knife. This frosting is very soft and will run down the edges of the cupcake if too much is applied.
2. Sprinkle frosted cupcakes with crushed graham cracker crumbs and chocolate sprinkles.