Foodie Friday – Oreo Cupcakes

I know that after Brandi finished her second marathon that I wanted to do something special for her – one of those included baking some cupcakes!  I wanted to make them a surprise for her so after asking a few questions about her likes and dislikes, I settled on Oreo cupcakes from Annie Eats.  I also knew I wanted to decorate them a little differently (you’ll see the final product at the end of the post…unless you can’t wait and scroll down now)

Yield 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

Icing
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream
Oreo cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves

Direction

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees (with my oven I usually have to preheat to 325 to prevent overcooking).  Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 liners.  Place an Oreo half in the bottom of each liner, cream side up (I used Mini Oreos for this particular recipe and did not do this part)2.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside.

3.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Add the milk and beat until just combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.  Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to overmix.4.  Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

5.  To make the icing, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium high speed until smooth, about one minute.  Blend vanilla extract into mix.  Beat in the confectioner’s sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

Frost the cupcakes as desired.  Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.

So I mentioned that I wanted to decorate them in a special way for Brandi.  Knowing that the Disney character associated with the full marathon was Mickey, I knew what I wanted to do -Can you see the “Mickey”?  They more Mickey inspired but hey, I thought they were cute!  I used Mini Oreos for the ears instead of the larger Oreos.  My sources say they tasted pretty good! (I very rarely eat one of my own cupcakes…weird, I know)

I hope everyone has a good weekend!  I have a 4-H meeting to go to Saturday and Sunday I’m going to brave the cold and get a 6 mile run in…less than a month until my next half marathon!

Until next time,