Arum num num num

Hey there, it's Marquette. I've got a cute Pinstrosity for you today. We get a lot of submission from people who tried to do the original pin and had something go wrong, but we haven't had many submission from people who used a pin as inspiration to make their own creative project. Personally, I love those. I think inspiration and not just replication is partly what Pinterest is all about. So a huge props to Ariel for her creativity and her try with this project. 

Now I'm a huge Cookie Monster fan. He was always my favorite Muppet (and Cookie Monster is actually a Muppet. Go to  http://www.sesamestreet.org/ and on the main toolbar you'll see the 2nd button from the right says "Muppets"-a Muppet is a term coined by Jim Henson to describe a marionette puppet combination). I'm glad the whole "Fruit and Veggie Monster" thing was all a hoax..."V is for Veggie" just isn't quite as catchy. I've really enjoyed seeing all the cookie monster cupcakes and cakes that have flown around Pinterest. I've seen some great ones and I've seen some Level 5 cupcakes too. Ariel found these cupcakes and decided to take her own spin off of them. 

The Original Pin

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/873655/cookie-monster-cupcakes

Cute, no? Well instead of cupcakes Ariel decided to try making Cookie Monster Cake Balls. 

The Pinstrosity

Ok, so they don't quite look like Cookie Monster, but you can see where she was going with these. I say A+ for awesome effort with adapting what she saw to the cake balls. I love the little mini cookies. So what to do so that these guys morph from bug-eyed heads into Cookie Monster? I have a few ideas. 

Idea #1: If available, blue dipping chocolate would help these guys out. I know blue isn't the easiest color to find with food decorating supplies...especially in chocolate, but I have seen it in the cake decorating aisle in our local Walmart. Now I know every Walmart is different and some of you may not have a Walmart accessible. If you plan ahead enough you can order them online (Wilton has many different colors). 

Idea #2: Can't find blue candy melts and don't want to order them? You can try dying white chocolate blue. We've listed this link before but I'll give it again...here's a great tutorial on how to dye white chocolate: http://www.wikihow.com/Dye-Chocolate. 

Idea #3: Don't want to dye white chocolate? Use white chocolate and then very thoroughly roll the cake balls in large blue sugar crystals. The large the sugar crystals the better; the little sugar crystals will get extra smooshed and hidden in the white chocolate muting the color and effect. The large crystals will also help to make it look like monster fur. 

Idea #4: I think a large part of the look with many creations like this is the eyes. Eye placement can make such a huge difference. If you look at the original cupcakes, or even a real picture of Cookie Monster, you can see how the eyes are centered high on the head and placed right next to each other. See?

The little eyes Ariel used were great, but if we moved them higher up on the cake balls and set them right next to each other it would give more of the Cookie Monster effect. Additionally, you can set the little eyeballs so they aren't looking in the same direction...Cookie Monsters eyes never both seem to be pointing in the same direction. 

Idea #5: I love love love the little cookies. While I do think they work, if you are wanting a less bulky cookie for the cake balls try Cookie Crisp as they are more thin. I think Ariel has her cookie placement about right; you definitely don't want it any higher up...even after moving the eyes higher on the head you need some good space between the eyes and the cookie. 

So there are my ideas to help bring Cookie Monster out of hiding with these yummy little guys. And then you can eat them Cookie Monster style, "Arum num num num num". I think that would be fitting.