Birthday Cake Monster Cookie Sandwiches

I'm on a cake batter kick. I had THE BEST cake batter ice cream from Hudsonville Ice Cream. It has pieces of yellow cake and real butter cream frosting in it. They serve it at the cafeteria in the children's hospital. It's probably a good thing that I work at night when it's closed. Otherwise I would go there for my lunch break everyday and get some. The two hospitals are connected, so I definitely did that when I was still on day shift for orientation.

So there's ice cream. And you all know how much I love cupcakes and cookies. Then I found this recipe for birthday cake monster cookie sandwiches... It's soooo good! It's kind of similar to the monster cookie recipe I posted recently, but some of the oatmeal is replaced with yellow cake mix, giving the cookie that cake batter flavor. Add some sprinkles, frosting, and m&ms and you've got a birthday cake in a cookie. Isn't that fun?

Want to know what's not so fun? Joe's gone this week and next week for work :'( I'm trying to be thankful because it's a great job, but I really miss him. Who will help me eat all the cookies? It especially stinks because I work this coming weekend when he'll be home. So I'll be sleeping and working when he's actually here. Boooo.

Last weekend we went to visit Joe's family in the thumb of Michigan. While visiting with his grandparents, Grandpa said something like, "yeah these are tough days" but you'll get through it and it's worth it (is what he was saying by that). Grandpa used to work 12-16 hour days plus farm work before and after his shift. So I guess he knows the struggle. He and Grandma are the cutest thing. I love visiting with them and seeing them interact. I'm kind of looking forward to the days when Joe and I are grandparents, encouraging our grandkids and watching them grow.

But these cookies.. I cut the recipe in half and it made about 16 sandwiches I think. I also kept the cookies in the fridge and they stayed delicious for a week. Here's the full recipe:

The Goods:
1 C unsalted butter at room temp
1 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp butter extract
1 1/2 C flour
1 C dry yellow cake mix
1 C quick oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C chocolate chips
1 C M&Ms (any kind you like, I used milk chocolate)
3/4 C sprinkles (I used less)

frosting:
1 C unsalted butter at room temp
4 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp heavy cream (or milk but cream is better)
additional sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine butter with both sugars. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and extracts and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cake mix, oats, salt, baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, beating until combined. Stir in chocolate chips, M&Ms and sprinkles. Spoon dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Try to keep cookies the same size. You could use something like a 2 tablespoon measure. I made my cookies a little smaller than that. Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool completely.
For the frosting: Beat the butter for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy. Slowly add powdered sugar, vanilla and cream. Beat until smooth. You can add more sugar if it's too thin or more cream if it's too thick.
I have a frosting decorator from Wilton, but you can use a zip-lock bag too with the corner cut off to decorate the cookies. Pipe the frosting around the edge of one cookie and over the whole cookie. Top with another cookie and lightly push down. You can roll the frosting in more sprinkles if you want.