Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Don't you love it when you stumble upon a GREAT recipe that you haven't tried in a while? I made these for my kiddos birthday party 2 years ago, and looking through my recipe book I found it! Everyone liked them, and I remember being especially proud of my self pulling these off, being 9 months pregnant and scheduled for a c-section in 2 days! 

Nothing says fancy like cupcakes that are stuffed with cookie dough! 

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso granules
1/2 cup warm water
pinch of fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
Roll cookie dough into 1 teaspoon balls, and drop into the middle of the cupcakes, making sure you cover them with batter.
Bake 18-22 min, until they pass a tooth pick test.
Remove to a wire rack and allow to cool competently. 

For the frosting:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 lbs powdered suar
Pinch of salt

1 tabl vanilla

3-5 tabl. heavy cream

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.Line muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and vanilla. In a small bowl, combine instant espresso granules and warm water, stirring until dissolved. Add espresso mixture to the cake batter and stir until fully incorporated. Scoop about 3 tabl. batter into prepared muffin tins.

For the frosting:

With an electric mixer, cream the butter until fluffy, add in (slowly) the sugar until well blended. Add salt, vanilla and 3 tabl. heavy cream. You can add 1-2 more tabl. of the cream until you reach the desired consistency.