White Forest Creamy Cookie Cupcakes

By now you are probably thinking my life is all cake and cream cheese. Actually, I think I have been doing a lot of stress baking...and eating. I was standing in the checkout line trying to decide what to bring to a Fourth of July cookout when I noticed a Better Homes and Gardens Cupcake edition. The recipe was inspired from the Cherry-Almond butter frosting on page 28. I pulled pieces from this frosting recipe and combined them with my standard buttercream recipe. If you have trouble finding the ingredients in my frosting recipe use the Better Homes and Gardens Cherry-Almond frosting recipe. 

You will need: 

• White cake scraps 
• Small circular cookie cutter 
• Baking cups 

Frosting Ingredients: 

• 3 Tbls. Cherry juice 
• Pinch of salt 
• 1/2 tsp. Almond extract 
• 1/2 c. Driverts sugar 
• 6 Tbls. Light butter 
• 2 Tbls. shortening 
• 3 c. Confectioner’s sugar 

Filling Ingredients: 

• 4 oz. Cream Cheese 
• 2 tsp. Sugar 
• 10-12 cherries 

First, either make a white cake or use left-over cake scraps from your freezer. Using a cookie cutter cut either 24 mini baking cup sized circles or 12 regular baking cup sized circles. Cut 1” tall circles in half horizontally. Set aside for later 

Frosting - combine half cherry juice pinch of salt, almond extract and Drivert’s sugar. Mix low to high for about a 1.5 minutes. Add softened light butter and shortening. mix low to high for about 2 minutes. The combination of the butter and shortening will begin to separate. Do not worry. I chose to add the butter in place of the shortening because of the calories, but had I not added any shortening my icing would have been too soft to work with. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar a cup at a time alternating with the remainder of the cherry juice. You may need to add more or less sugar depending on your climate. The sugar will soak up the oil and the separation will stop. Mix low to high for about 3 minutes. 

Filling - whip softened cream cheese and sugar. Chop cherries (seed and stem removed) in a blender or food processor. I actually mixed the cream cheese and sugar in my mini food processor then added the cherries to expedite the process. 

Place a dollop of filling between each of the two circular cake pieces. Cookie cupcakes can be placed in baking cups for ease in serving. 

Place frosting in a cake decorating frosting bag. If you are using a tip place your cupler and tip first. If you do not have decorating supplies place frosting in a sandwich bag, cut a corner tip and squeeze onto your cookie cupcake. 

The first time I made these I was unhappy with the recipe for the frosting and the filling, but happy with the general concept. The second time, which is the one I am sharing, I made two batches form the frosting recipe. I made half of the cakes minis and the others full size cupcakes. Therefore, this recipe should make 24 mini cookie cupcakes or about 12 full size cookie cupcakes.