Cookies & Cream

I decided to fly to VA for the Labor Day weekend. That Saturday was my mom's birthday and Sunday was my stepdad's birthday. So, I thought it would be fun to surprise them. My aunts were in on it, of course. I told Aunt Barb that I would take care of making the cake/cupcakes. I knew right away that I wanted there to be oreos involved as those are my mom's favorite. If you are ever in need of a cupcake recipe, check out the How To Eat A Cupcake blog. She has everything you could imagine. She had made cookies & cream cupcakes both from scratch and from a box mix base. She said using the box mix turned out better so that's what I went for. They turned out great...you should definitely try them out. Since I would be at my aunt's house, I figured it would be easier to just buy icing and add crushed oreos to it, so that's what I did. I used Betty Crocker's Whipped Fluffy Vanilla... good stuff! Here is her recipe:

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

Makes 22-24 cupcakes

30 Oreo cookies

1 box plain white cake mix

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

2. Count out 12 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Make sure each has some of the icing on it. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Set them aside. Place the remaining 18 Oreos between sheets of waxed paper or in a large, closed zipper-lock bag and crush them by rolling over them with a rolling pin. Set these crumbs aside.

3. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 1/2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter until well incorporated. Set aside the remaining crushed Oreos for the frosting. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cup­cake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting. (I left mine in the liners and served like normal)

For Icing, if using store bought, like I did: simply crush the oreos and mix into frosting. Note: if you plan to pipe the icing on you will need to make sure they are crushed very fine. They kept getting stuck in my tip and I finally got annoyed and gave up.

*Store these cupcakes, in a cake saver or under a glass dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. If you plan to freeze them, don't add the cookie-crumb topping. Wrap them in aluminum foil or in a cake saver and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw the cup­cakes overnight in the refrigerator and top with cookie crumbs before serving.

Happy Birthday, Mom & Johnny!!

The little man sure did enjoy it, well the icing at least. Dig in, Cole!