Cookie Butter Cup Surprise Cupcakes - bethcakes.com

If you read my post on Monday, you know that I went to Athens over the weekend with Meredith to visit Molly, and that I ventured into a Trader Joe’s for the first time. Super pumped that we’re getting one here in Birmingham later in the year, but in the meantime, we all stocked up on cookie butter.

I bought three jars.

Because all three of us are bloggers, and because who doesn’t love baking, we had already planned on making something that day. As soon as someone said cookie butter we were like, yep. Cookie butter cupcakes are happening. And then someone, I can’t remember if it was Meredith or Molly, said something about putting cookie butter cups INSIDE the cupcakes. I used to make surprise-inside cupakes all the time! I realized that I’ve gotten away from a lot of the baking I used to really enjoy when I first started blogging, so it was fun to get back to that.

And so here we are.

There’s a lot going on inside these cupcakes, so for the actual cake, we stuck to something simple. We adapted the Basic Two-Egg Cake recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, which Molly had displayed in her kitchen. We really only made three changes–butter instead of Crisco, all purpose flour instead of cake flour, and buttermilk instead of milk. And oh boy, I think I have finally found my favorite yellow cake recipe! These cupcakes were so soft and fluffy. Their texture was just so perfect.

Obviously we had to go with cookie butter frosting here. Typically I pile on the frosting, but with one-and-a-half cookie butter cups in addition to cake and frosting, I think a little bit is enough. This stuff is totally addictive–it even smelled delicious just sitting there in the bowl.

As you can see in the first photo, the cookie butter cups sank to the bottom, but it totally works because they kind of spread out so you have a little cookie butter cup crust at the bottom of each cupcake. In the recipe instructions, you add a little cake batter to the cupcake liners, add a cookie butter cup, and then cover it with more cake batter. I still think you should do this when you make them, even though they’ll end up on the bottom, because I think if you placed them directly on the bottom, they might burn. And that would be a waste of precious cookie butter cups.

This yellow cake + cookie butter frosting + cookie butter cups combination really works together. They’re indulgent already, but if you wanted to kick it up a notch, you could go with a dark chocolate cupcake. Maybe I’ll have to try that before my three jars of cookie butter run out. 😉

Print Recipe

Cookie Butter Cup Surprise Cupcakes

Ingredients

yellow cake

1 cup butter softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup + 2tbsp buttermilk
24 cookie butter cups found at Trader Joe's

cookie butter frosting

1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup cookie butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

yellow cake

Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium sized bowl, beat butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla, then mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the buttermilk to the sugar mixture. Mix until just combined. Repeat with the second half of the flour and buttermilk and mix well.
Fill the bottom of each cupcake liner with a little bit of cake batter, just enough to cover the bottom. Add a cookie butter cup, then top with more cake batter. The cupcake liners should be about 2/3 full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

cookie butter frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add cookie butter, vanilla, and milk. Mix well. Add half of the powdered sugar, mix on low speed until just combined, and then medium speed until completely combined. Repeat with the second half of the powdered sugar. Spread frosting on top of cupcakes and top with half of a cookie butter cup.

Notes

Adapted from The Better Homes & Garden New Cookbook.

All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without permission. If you would like to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

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Comments

Jana says

01/30/2015 at 8:15 am

I could lick my screen! These look delicious! The recipe looks pretty simple too.

Now if we only had a Trader Joes….sigh!

Medha @ Whisk & Shout says

01/30/2015 at 11:08 am

YUM! I love those cookie butter cups and I love the cookie butter frosting, too! 🙂 You take cookie butter to a WHOLE new level 🙂

Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says

01/30/2015 at 1:16 pm

Love the cookie butter frosting! These cupcakes look amazing, Beth!

Nora (A Clean Bake) says

01/30/2015 at 1:56 pm

I absolutely ADORE cookie butter (I mean, who doesn’t) and am definitely going to have to make these!

Justine@CookingandBeer says

01/30/2015 at 6:09 pm

Ok, I’m totally with you, Beth! Before we had a TJ’s every time I was near one I stocked up on all of the essentials, and speculoos is DEF an essential! I absolutely love this cupcake! Yum!

Julianne @ Beyond Frosting says

01/31/2015 at 9:31 pm

I am crazy for cookie butter!

Ashley says

02/02/2015 at 6:44 am

Oh how good these look!! I’ve been really good about not buying cookie butter lately but man, you are weakening my resolve!! haha Hope you had a great weekend!!

Allie | Baking a Moment says

02/05/2015 at 9:00 am

I LOVE Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. That stuff is seriously dangerous. Baking those little cups inside a cupcake is such a fun idea! These sound so delicious Beth 😀 😀 😀

Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures says

02/05/2015 at 10:23 am

Yum! I want to eat that cookie butter frosting with a spoon!

Allison - Celebrating Sweets says

02/06/2015 at 8:01 pm

Trader Joe’s is the best. I love all things cookie butter. I like to buy TJ’s speculoos cookies and dip them in cookie butter. SO good!

Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says

02/17/2015 at 1:36 pm

Those cookie butter cups are going to be the death of me. Which is why I have yet to buy them. I may never leave the house if I do. Except to stock up and buy more.