Let's Make Cupcakes!

So, I've never really been that big of a fan of cake, I've always preferred pie. But I have recently fallen in love with cupcakes. I think they are the cutest things. I guess it started awhile back when I got these cute little pink cupcake earrings (earrings are another love of mine). They just make me happy. And then, with my recent love of WeHeartIt.com, I've saved tons of cute cupcake images. So I decided I would love to own a bunch of cupcake supplies and make cupcakes. People love cupcakes. They're cute and make people happy. And they're delicious of course! I wish I could own a little cupcake shop, but I'm no expert. So instead, I will make cupcakes for myself and people I know just for fun. I went to the store this week and bought a vanilla funfetti cake mix, a strawberry cake mix, vanilla frosting, a big tub of sprinkles, and some sugar cookie dough (to make heart and star-shaped cookies as well!). My first experiment: strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. They were so delicious and it was so fun. Here's some pictures of them and soon I hope to have more supplies to make even cuter cupcakes! Oh, and one of those cupcake cake pans to make a giant cupcake!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough + Cupcake = The BEST Cupcake. Ever.

(I'm going to try making these cupcakes. They sound good!)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs

Directions
1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.
2. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
3. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.