Back in the swing of things and I have finally found time to update. Our house is coming together slowly but surely (we rearrange the furniture in the living room weekly, just to mix it up) and I finally got my bed! After figuring out our crazy work and class schedules the first week of school, Alex and Taisa again generously stepped up and helped me out. Which leads me to this post. I again promised my helpers some cupcakes (which gave me a reason to break in our beautiful new kitchen!) and with their help in deciding a flavor, we decided to try out Cookies and Cream, aka Oreo cupcakes!
The recipe I found at one of my favorite food blogs Lovin' From the Oven, is pretty simple because it starts with ...a box mix *gasp* Usually I feel like I'm cheating when using a box mix, but when doctoring it up with other ingredients, it can come out amazingly. I ended up tweaking the recipe a little bit because my batter came put pretty dense so I added a few tablespoons of milk before adding in the Oreo crumbs
Quick side note: I was really excited to get to use my roommates adorable measuring cups!
Ok back to cupcakes -first, carefully twist apart 24 Oreos and place the side with frosting in the bottom of cupcake liners so each cupcake will have a little surprise at the bottom!
Then mix together all the ingredients for the batter, and crush the tops of the cookies you took apart (adding in more whole Oreos if you want for some cream bits inside) and stir the crumbs into the batter.
After 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees, the cupcakes come out with golden tops, and smell like delicious warm cookies
As the cupcakes were cooling, I whipped up a simple butter cream. I think the recipe I used called for a butter cream that uses shortening, but I don't really like the texture that shortening gives my frosting so I just went with good ole butter, milk, and powdered sugar. Then I crushed up a few more Oreos and added them to the frosting to have a full Oreo overload. 
I love the texture and flavor and look of the cookie bits in the frosting, but if you are planning on piping it make sure you crush the cookies up very fine before adding them to the frosting (I learned this the hard way, stopping every couple cupcakes to pry a large cookie crumb from the piping tip) 
But they turned out great despite a little piping trouble!
A full tray of Oreo cupcakes ready for Alex and Taisa...
Or sneaky roommates :) my loyal taste testers stepped in to help judge if this recipe was a keeper
I think these are for sure a keeper
And there's the fun surprise at the bottom!
If you give a mouse a cookie...
Ok back to cupcakes -first, carefully twist apart 24 Oreos and place the side with frosting in the bottom of cupcake liners so each cupcake will have a little surprise at the bottom!Then mix together all the ingredients for the batter, and crush the tops of the cookies you took apart (adding in more whole Oreos if you want for some cream bits inside) and stir the crumbs into the batter.After 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees, the cupcakes come out with golden tops, and smell like delicious warm cookiesAs the cupcakes were cooling, I whipped up a simple butter cream. I think the recipe I used called for a butter cream that uses shortening, but I don't really like the texture that shortening gives my frosting so I just went with good ole butter, milk, and powdered sugar. Then I crushed up a few more Oreos and added them to the frosting to have a full Oreo overload. I love the texture and flavor and look of the cookie bits in the frosting, but if you are planning on piping it make sure you crush the cookies up very fine before adding them to the frosting (I learned this the hard way, stopping every couple cupcakes to pry a large cookie crumb from the piping tip) But they turned out great despite a little piping trouble!A full tray of Oreo cupcakes ready for Alex and Taisa...Or sneaky roommates :) my loyal taste testers stepped in to help judge if this recipe was a keeperI think these are for sure a keeperAnd there's the fun surprise at the bottom!
If you give a mouse a cookie...Thanks again Alex and Taisa for always moving my furniture! Hope these cupcakes were worth the work!
