Ice Cream Cone "Flower Pot" Cupcakes!

When I was a child, my mom always made ice cream cone cupcakes for me to bring into my class on my birthday. They were awesome. I looked forward to them every year. As Breuklyn's birthday approached I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her. I know that these are a tad time consuming, but they are absolutely worth it.

First, I started by making the dough for the Most Amazing Sugar Cookies Ever. I did this the night before I took them into Breukyln's class.

You will want to cut out the sugar cookies really thick because after they have been baked, you will insert the lollipop stick. So, don't be shy. The flowers that I used were rather small, so I wasn't concerned with them not cooking all the way through.

Want to know a secret of mine? I dust the table with confectioners' sugar instead of flour when I roll out the cookie dough. Don't you just hate it when you have to add more and more and more flour to cookie dough so that it won't stick and then the cookies taste bland? This helps to prevent that.

Alright, while the cookies are baking, make up your cupcake dough. I used the Funfetti cake mix because that is what Breuklyn wanted, but I highly suggest that you make a cake mix from scratch. Why? Because I want to torment you? Well, maybe. But also because a homemade cake mix produces a more dense cake, which makes it easier to later insert the cookie lollipops. See? I'm just looking out for you.

I only filled the ice cream cones about half way so that I would have plenty of room for my "dirt." If you are just going to frost these and carry on, you will need to fill them about 2/3 of the way full.

Fast forward to the next morning and we will have much better lighting, whew! We now have our baked and completely cooled ice cream cone cupcakes.

Our baked and completely cooled flower sugar cookies...

which you have ever so carefully inserted the lollipop sticks into. Be sure to have lots more cookies that you need because this lollipop thing is risky business. I broke at least 10 cookies along the way.

And you will also need some gorgeous colors of homemade buttercream frosting. As many colors as you would like.

I used a star tip to frost these because it is easiest for me. If you want to do a color flow style cookie, that would be pretty too.

Frost and frost and frost until you think that you can't frost anymore. I used the time to catch up on an episode of Grey's Anatomy that I had missed. Have I mentioned how much I love watching TV shows online? And did you see the Season Finale of Grey's Anatomy???

Alright. Once your cookies have all been frosted, all that is left is the dirt. While I was tinting my buttercream, I saved some untinted frosting for this step. I added a little frosting to the cupcake before I added the dirt so that it would have something to stick to. This helps when handing out the cupcakes to a classroom full of Kindergartners. Unless of course you want to dust the floor of the classroom with an unpenetrable layer of Oreo cookie crumbs.

For the dirt, I crushed about 30 Oreo cookies in a large Ziploc bag using my rolling pin. It really does look like dirt, doesn't it?

All that is left is to assemble. One cookie on a stick per ice cream cone and you are done! I used a 9" x 13" pan that had high sides for transporting, just in case you are panicking on traveling with these. My mom used to con McDonalds out of their drink holders so that she could bring them into my class without a major cupcake disaster. It isn't as complicated as it seems, especially if you get the larger ice cream cones with a larger bottom, so don't be intimidated by that aspect of it.

And that's it! Now, go! Bake cupcakes. I dare you! :)