Oreo Cupcakes

My little sister told me about some cupcakes that were recently in the teachers' lounge at her school.  She called them Oreo cupcakes and said they reminded her of the fried Oreos at the state fair.  Since I needed something to take to a Super Bowl party today I decided it was a good time to try them out.  I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course!) and while I feel like a traitor for using a boxed cake mix I didn't want to mess with the recipe the first time I made it.  I think it's a hit, so here's how you do it!

Start by assembling the cake ingredients:

Make the mix according to package directions (that's what the water, oil, and eggs are for) but don't bake it!  Place an Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake wrapper (football-themed, duh!):

This made 30 cupcakes since you're using a little less cake batter per cupcake with a whole Oreo in there.  Use the rest of the Oreos in the package to crush up and mix with the batter, like so:

Grrrrrr!  A great way to make your meat tenderizer a multi-tasker (but you can use a rolling pin or your food processer, too).

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way up.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Let them cool while you make the frosting.

For the frosting, you'll need an 8oz. block of (room temperature) cream cheese, a stick of (room temperature) butter, a bag of mini Oreos, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar.  Cream together a stick of butter and a block of cream cheese.

Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar.  Mix until it's combined and fluffy (a technical term, haha). 

Fetch your bag of Oreos and discover that your husband has already found them.  With the half bag that remains, set aside as many non-broken cookies as you can find--these will top the finished cupcakes.  Finely chop the rest of the cookies and add them to the frosting.

Now it's time to assemble the cupcakes!  Fit a piping bag with a wide tip.  This is important because there will inevitably be pieces of cookie that didn't break down as much as you thought.  Keep a small knife handy to break up pieces that get stuck in the end of the tip as you frost the cupcakes.  (If this sounds like too much of a hassle you could just frost them with a spatula or butter knife!)  Top each cupcake with a mini Oreo.

Take a look at the inside:

Enough with the pictures.  Time to dig in!


Enjoy!
Adi