Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

Happy Saturday! I hope that you have wonderful plans for a leisurely weekend. I do not have any real plans for the weekend and I am very happy about that.

I am a Pinterest addict, like so many others and I have taken to challenging myself to make something once a week from Pinterest, mostly food, although I have found a few “crafty” ideas that I may try at a later date. This week I chose the Oreo Cupcakes. Now I will warn you ahead of time, these are absolutely fabulous! I could not stop at one. They are easy(one of my criteria) and different and delicious.

I used the recipe from Annie’s Eats, although she calls her cupcakes Cookies and Cream Cupcakes, they are basically one in the same, I just changed the name.  

Ingredients

• 18 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

OR 1 White Box cake mix

• 20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp. white vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 Tablespoons of heavy cream

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 18 paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

If using a box mix, follow the directions on the package and then fold in the chopped oreos.

• Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired.

The cream cheese frosting is light, fluffy and scrumptious. It is not like a traditional cream cheese frosting in that it has no tang, and it is lighter. This is going to be my new “go to” frosting, I like it even better than a traditional butter cream, and I think it is very versatile.

In full disclosure, while I was making this recipe, I was distracted making The Barefoot Contessas’s Tuscan Bean Soup, and I forgot to add the egg whites. I did not notice until the cupcakes were ready to go into the oven, so I had to dump all of the filled cupcakes back into the bowl and add the egg whites. That is why the cupcake above does not have too many crushed Oreos inside, by the time I refilled the cupcake tins a few of  them ended up a little skimpy. Oh well, lesson learned. Do not get distracted or try to do too much multi-tasking!

They are still delicious and I think you will enjoy them, and so will your family and friends! Enjoy your weekend! Stay warm! It is cold here in Milwaukee.

Linking to these great parties:

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Fridays Unfolded  at  Stuff and Nonsense