Oreo Cupcakes

Sara and I did a lot of cooking while she was here. One of my favorite things that we made: Oreo cupcakes. How could we not have fun spending the afternoon with a kitchen full of Oreos?
We had two Oreo cupcake recipes and decided that we had to try both. So I'll record both recipes below.

I thought I would not like the cupcake with chunks of Oreo in the actual cupcake. But it was more than awesome.

The mini cupcakes filled with cream were also really really good. It makes me want to try to make it into a Hostess cupcake.

Make these if you're going to have company, they are impossible to resist!

Chocolate cupcake batter:

*This recipe made 2 dozen regular cupcakes and 3 dozen mini cupcakes, twice as many as I anticipated.*

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the brown sugar and continue beating until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Don't overmix.

Now, here is where I split the batter. Big cupcake instructions first:

Twist 24 Oreo cookies so you have 24 sides with cream.

Place these cookie halves cream side up in cupcake liners.

Fill cupcake lines with cupcake batter until half full.

Break whole Oreo cookies into small pieces, and drop five or six cookie chunks into each unbaked cupcake.

Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes (til an inserted toothpick comes out clean).

Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack.

Now for the whipped cream frosting:

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp. whipping cream
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 tbsp. Oreo cookie crumbs

Combine the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract and beat on medium-high speed (with the whisk attachment) until the whipped cream holds stiff peaks. Gently fold in the cookie crumbs with a spatula. (I needed a batch and a half of the whipped cream frosting for both sets of cupcakes.)

Frost the cupcakes with the whipped cream frosting (I used a piping bag and large tip, super easy and quick). Add an Oreo to the top for garnish right before you serve them.

Now for the mini Oreo cupcakes.

Use the chocolate cupcake batter (above) and bake in mini cupcake pans at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes.

Cool the cupcakes.

Using a small paring knife, cut a small cone out of the top of the mini cupcake. Using a piping bag, fill the hole with whipped cream frosting and cap with the removed cone. Since I like a lot of filling, I usually cut out the initial cone, and then scrape more cupcake out of the middle.

Pipe more frosting onto the top of the cupcake and top with a mini Oreo.

Adapted from:

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Oreo Cupcakes