Oreo Cupcakes

October 24, 2011 — droolfactor

I’m a little obsessed with anything Oreos. I remember in the 90’s when cookies and cream was hip and happening. My greatest indulgence was cookies and cream thick shake. Large one please!

It seems the fad has died down in the last decade (oh my, I can quote decades means I’m old, yikes) but the infamous little chocolate sandwich of cookie and cream is far from passé. It’s very much alive and dear to our hearts and our flabby tummies can attest to that. In my collection is a never-fail, totally delish oreo cheesecake recipe that I’ve had for years. I’ll post that soon, as I made one recently and just haven’t come round to writing about it. But this is a newbie for me and it’s definitely staying in my collection – Oreo cupcakes. I made these for a friend’s birthday earlier this month and to date it’s my favourite cupcake recipe.

The cake part of the recipe is from a fellow food blogger – and for the life of me I can’t seem to remember who!! If you do know, please let me know and I’ll point it out to others. (Sheesh this is becoming habit – note to self – I have to make a point to remember which blog recipes are from!) But this is one of the best cookies and cream cupcakes I’ve had. Chunks of cookies and a super moist chocolate cake – heaven! Literally, break up a regular size Oreo into cup cake liners as seen below, and pour in a surprisingly runny chocolate cake batter.

See how runny the batter is? Yeah, don’t freak out. It makes the best chocolate cake base.

The frosting is made from whipped cream which is one of my favourite because it reminds me of the cookies and cream thick shake I used to indulge in. It is one of the simplest frostings to make but oh-so-lickably-yummy. I stood there for the longest time licking the bowl clean after I was done frosting the cupcakes. There was quite a bit leftover, and I ate it all! So, so good and so, so bad for me.

I managed to find the mini Oreos to top the cupcakes, but if you don’t have that, just use a regular sized Oreo and break it in half. Or even whole, if you prefer an equal cookie to cake ratio. My cupcake’s quite small, so the mini ones worked well.

OREO CUPCAKES 
Makes about 18 cupcakes 

• 1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 Cup natural unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/4 Cup sugar
• 3/4 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup vegetable oil
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 Cup milk
• 3/4 Cup hot water
• 18 Oreos plus 6 more for crumbs
• small snack size box of mini oreos

Preheat the oven to 180C degrees. Line tray with baking cups.

Break Oreos into smaller pieces and disperse evenly in the bottom of each cupcake liner.

Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl using a whisk. Then add the eggs, oil, vanilla, milk, and mix well until throughly incorporated. At this point, the batter looks normal and thick.

Then add the hot water and mix until is it combined. Now the mixture should be a much thinner liquid. (See photo above) Transfer batter into a large measuring cup and fill each cupcake cup about 3/4 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Repeat the baking process for any remaining batter.

OREO FROSTING
From annies-eats.com

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

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.  Beat on medium-high speed until the whipped cream holds stiff peaks.  Gently fold in the cookie crumbs with a spatula.