Happy Bday Chloe {Cupcakes & Favors}

Happy 9th Birthday Chloe!
Dear Chloe,
I'm so proud to be your mom! You are smart and sweet. You are the comedian and the athlete in the family. Today we watched you, the only girl on your team, knock ball after ball past all those boys in little league. You never missed. Every game everyone is amazed at how well you play. I'm not amazed or surprised. You have so much determination. Every time your up to bat, and that ball goes flying, I hear parents from the other team say "Wow!" You made some awesome plays at first too. Today you chose to go to Benihana's for your birthday dinner and tomorrow we will be having your party at the ice skating rink. Here are the favors we will be giving out tomorrow, who doesn't love a GIANT rainbow lollipop? You asked for these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough filled cupcakes for me to give to your baseball team for snack. And you also asked me to make Brownie Popsicles which I will make later tonight. Hope your birthday is as great as you hoped. I love you.
Love, Mom

These party favor tags were created by Jen @ Mommies Ink, who I found on Etsy. They originally had a roller skate on them. She responded to email request within minutes, resized the image per my request, swapped out the skate and the name, and had them delivered to my email that night. That is some awesome, super fast service! I used a 3 1/2 inch scallop punch.

Chloe loves cookie dough and I had this recipe from Kevin and Amanda. She has the complete recipe and tutorial so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. You can go to her blog for all the info. I had a love-hate relationship with these cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves are pretty plain, which Amanda notes. So, next time I would use a yellow cake. Also,  no one in my house really like this frosting. Cookie dough's main flavor components are butter, brown sugar, and vanilla, and that is what this frosting is made of. It was way to sweet for us. I don't have an alternative yet, so I'll take your ideas. Finally, when you plop on the frozen cookie dough balls, DO NOT press them down. Yes, I learned this the hard way. But, it is important that you just light press them on top of the batter. The batter will bake over them, I promise. If you press them down you will have half a crispy cookie at the bottom of your cupcake. Also, the middle of the cupcakes will sink in slightly when you remove them from the oven. Even though I really wanted to toss these at one point, I kept them and the kids on her team loved them, and I got a cupcake order out of it!

I have transferred Amanda's Recipe onto a word document, which includes some of her photos. Please email me if you would like me to send you a copy. The Cupcake Doctor also has a recipe for Cookie Dough Cupcakes which might be of interest.