Starry Inside Cupcakes

I openly admit that I will never root for the Dallas Cowboys.  I will proudly wear my Eagles green in Dallas on game day if I ever get the chance.  However, today of all days happens to be a certain Cowboys fan's birthday, so I bit my tongue long enough to make Cowboy themed cupcakes because it was a perfect opportunity to attempt putting shapes inside cupcakes.  If it hadn't been for the Cowboys' logo being a star, I would have never stooped so low, but since I've been wanting to try this for a while I made an exception.  Oh it's painful just writing this post....

These cupcakes aren't any harder than regular cupcakes, they just take a bit longer and some planning ahead.

I thought the name was clever.  It's a play on "Starry Eyed".  Get it now?  Hey, I had to do something to distract from my treason right now.

Starry Inside Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcake batter made to specifications
Food Dye
Icing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix up your batter and separate it into two bowls.  1/3 in one bowl and 2/3 in the other.  The 1/3 amount will be used for the star shape, or whichever shape you choose. Get festive.  Dye it the color you choose.  Wilton food coloring will give it a better color rather than liquid food coloring, but you will pay more for the Wilton.  Pour the 1/3 amount into a 9x9 greased glass baking dish.  Bake until just set enough to hold a shape when cut.  About ten minutes, but keep an eye on it.

Use a cookie cutter to make your shapes in the batter.  Remove each piece and set on wax paper.  The batter will be soft enough that you should be able to push some pieces together to make more shapes and not waste so much of the cake.  Put the shaped pieces into the freezer for at least half an hour.  This is so that when they get baked again they won't dry out.

Put cupcake liners in your cupcake pan.  Stand the shapes up in the liners and put a dollop of the other batter on each side of the shape.  Let some pour over top of the shape, but remember it will rise up over the shape, so do not fill more than 2/3 of the way.  Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.

Ice and enjoy.  Just try to mark the cupcakes so you know where the shape is so you can cut the cupcakes in half and show off your handiwork.