Oreo Cupcakes

 

The Handsomest, most Amazing man in the World, my boyfriend Adam (yes, I might be a teensy bit bias in this regard, but I'm ok with that) recently had a birthday.

He decided to throw himself a board game party and invited all his friends.

I, of course, loving themed treats, scoured the internet for ideas for game themed cupcakes, but found I didn't come away very inspired.

Adam asked that I make him Oreo cupcakes instead. I've been meaning to make him some Oreo treats for awhile now, so I jumped at the idea. I looked at lots of recipes and finally decided to do it my own way.

 

For the cake I used the Vanilla Tex Mex recipe, but cut way back on the cinnamon. Instead, I got a bag of mini Oreos and cut them into small chunks, middle stuff and all and mixed them into the batter.

 

I placed a full sized Oreo cookie at the bottom of each baking cup, then filled the rest with batter.

Like the Tartcuppins, having something at the bottom of your cake makes the baking time change. The heat doesn't penetrate the same. I ended up baking them for about 10 minutes longer and then broiling the top of them, hence the slightly browned look.

mmm... look at those big Oreo chunks...

 

For the icing, I wanted to do something special. I looked up recipes for homemade Oreo's and used the recipe for "the middle stuff" from Sally's Baking Addiction, tripled the recipe and made it into icing. 

1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup (48g) vegetable shortening, room temperature

1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 1 minute. Turn the mixer off and add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat on low for 1 minute and then switch to high and beat for 1 more minute until creamy and combined. The cream filling is thick.

I tweaked this recipe, using a bit of milk, a bit more vanilla and Oreo crumbs until I found a taste that I felt worked.

 

Once the cupcakes were iced, I placed the remaining mini Oreos on top as garnish.

 

 

Don't they look good?

 

 

Check out what they look like inside. You can see the Oreo at the bottom, which had softened nicely in the oven.

 

 

These cupcakes were heavenly! I made about 24 all together and all but 2 or 3 were left at the end of the night, which was pretty good, since there were only 7 of us there. The remaining cupcakes were gone the next morning and made a terrific breakfast ;)

 

You should try these, they are to die for!