Delicious Goodness: Oreo Crumb Chocolate Cupcakes

Today my father is starting the last year of his 50's. I was teasing him yesterday, that he's not ancient yet, but he's pretty damn close. He was not pleased with me. To make up for it, I made him birthday cupcakes. Normally my Mother makes him a traditional German Chocolate Cake for his birthday every year. This year, I got put in charge of his cake, and there is no way I was making that crap. Thinking about it makes me want to vomit*. Nasty chocolate, soggy coconut.....EWWWW!!! (*Disclaimer, this is in no way a reflection on my Mother's baking/cooking skills, the best chef in the world could make a traditional German Chocolate Cake and I would still feel the same about it.)

Instead, I decided to go with a tried and true recipe, the Oreo Crumb Chocolate Cupcake with Oreo Cream Cheese Icing. I've made these a few times and they have always been a big hit.

Now, I wish I could take all the credit for this treat of delicious goodness. But I can't. The problem is, I don't know who to give credit too. I printed this recipe off the internet years ago, and have no idea who it belongs to. If you know, let me know, so I can point people to the original source. But in the mean time, I will supply you with the recipe so you too can make your own delicious goodness.

Oreo Crumb Cupcakes & Oreo Cream Cheese Icing

Cake Ingredients:

• 24 Oreos
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• Devil's Food Cake Mix

Icing Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter
• Oreo cream from cookies
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2  1/2 - 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup Oreo crumbs, sifted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners
2. Take your 24 Oreos. Scrape off the cream centers, set these aside for later. Put the cookies in a food processor, or place them in a plastic bag and crunch by hand.
3. Sift the crushed Oreos. You will need about 1 cup sifted cookies for the icing, so set that aside. Be sure to sift the cookies or you will get big chunks in your icing bag, that makes it difficult to get around. Trust me, I know. 
4. Place approximately 1 teaspoon of  the larger cookie crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. 
5. In a large bowl, use a whisk to combine water, buttermilk, oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract. 
6. One at a time, add the eggs. Be sure to stir well in between each addition.
7. Slowly add the Devil's Food cake mix while stirring. 
8. Fill cupcake liners (with the cookie crumbs on the bottom) 3/4 full and bake for 13-18 minutes (depending on your oven, of course). The tops should spring back when you touch them. 
9. For the icing: Cream together your cream cheese, butter, and the Oreo cream centers. 
10. Add vanilla and heavy cream. 
11. Add in the powdered sugar until you reach the desired icing texture.
12. Stir in sifted Oreo crumbs and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Be sure to store in a air-tight container to keep in moisture. Enjoy!!!

A Birthday Celebration: Mountain Dew Cupcakes

I love to bake delicious yummy treats. I'll take any excuse to eat delicious yummy treats. Birthdays give me the perfect excuse to experiment and try new recipes. Imagine my excitement when I came upon the perfect birthday treat for my coworkers birthday. 

Brandon loves anything Mountain Dew. So when I came across this recipe for Mountain Dew cupcakes, I knew that I had the perfect birthday treat for him. So I assembled my supplies, and got to work.

First I zested. And then I zested and zested some more. I hate zesting and this recipe calls for a lot of zesting. Let's face it, I zested my butt off. But, it's worth. I followed the recipe, and finally came up with some delicious looking treats to take into the office. Brandon and all our coworkers were happy! The boys in the office all love Mountain Dew, so it was definitely a big hit. 

Mountain Dew Cupcakes **

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup Mountain Dew
1/4 cup of lemon and lime juice (juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime)
zest from 1 lemon and 2 limes (separate into 2 piles, one for buttercream)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Beat butter on medium for 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar and lemon, lime zest. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, Scrape sides of bowl in between additions
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to mixer bowl. Turn on low for 5 seconds.
5. Add the Mountain Dew, lemon/lime juice, and lemon extract . Mix to combine.
5. Scoop into cupcake papers about two-thirds full.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Mountain Dew Buttercream

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
4-5 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Mountain Dew
Juices from half of 1 lemon and half of 1 lime.
Lemon and lime zest (rest of zest from cupcake recipe. Or zest from half of 1 lemon and 1 whole lime)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
neon green food coloring (yellow and blue if you dont have green)

1. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment
2. Beat butter at medium-high speed until creamy
3. Add half of the sugar, turn mixer on low for 5 seconds.
4. Add the Mountain Dew, zest, and lemon extract . Beat until combined.
5. Add food coloring to the desired color.
6. Gradually add remaining sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

**Just a note. This batter is very heavy and did not rise as I expected. Therefore I had some little short cakes in attendance. I'd recommend filling the cupcake liner to the brim. 

Dark Chocolate Fudge Cupcake with Fresh Raspberry Buttercream Icinig

Don't worry, you read the title right. And trust me, they were as good as they sound. While I was on the island (read about that here) my Dad's cousin had an art show. The people on my dad's side of the family are incredibly talented artists, and Sally is fantastic. She works primarily in water colors, but occasionally dabbles in other mediums.

In preparation for the event, Sally had mentioned to my Mom that she had to supply finger foods along with the other featured artists. So then, my mother turned to me. And that is where the Dark Chocolate Fudge Cupcake with Fresh Raspberry Buttercream Icing comes in.

I made 80 of these delicious mini-cupcakes. And I was proud of them. Why was I proud you ask? Well, it was the first time I'd ever ventured into the realm of making up my own icing recipe. And, it was so delicious, that I wanted to eat all 80 of this little cupcakes myself.

Want to know how to make your own? Well, I'll tell you....

First bake these in mini cupcakes. That's right. I cheated, although, this time I have an excuse. I was on an island people. Do you have any idea how EXPENSIVE groceries are on an island? A package of Oreo's is $7.00 up there. Serious!

Raspberry Butter Cream Icing

• quart of fresh raspberries
• 1 cup of butter, room temperature
• 4 cups of powdered sugar

1. First, puree your raspberries in your food process or blender. Make sure they are all well processed. 
2. Drain your raspberry puree through a strainer to get rid of all the seeds. This can take some jiggling around, but sooner or later you'll get it all out. 
3. Take your room temp. butter and cream it in your mixing bowl. Slowly add the seedless puree. (I wanted to know what raspberry butter tasted like, so I tried it. Pretty darn good.)
4. Slowly add your powdered sugar, until you reach frosting consistency. 
5. Frost cupcakes and ENJOY!

I thought long and hard about pairing this combo and in the end I was very pleased. I wanted something that would reflect the art culture, and have a good marriage of flavors. I think I succeeded. And by the way the flew off the table, I think everyone else agreed.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake Surprise

That's right, you heard me. Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake Surprise. It's as delicious as it sounds. A friend was house-sitting for some of his friends a while ago, and they left these cupcakes for him to consume. All he could talk about for a week was how great these cupcakes were. So I got the recipe and for his birthday I made the cupcakes with some key changes.

First I made the eggless cookie dough exactly as described. FYI: it is delicious, perfect for that night you want to eat cookie dough, but minus the salmonella. :-) It would also be great for dipping in chocolate, which I may have to do in the very near future.

After making the cookie dough, I rolled it into balls, and placed in the freezer.

Moving on, I made the delicious butter cream icing. I followed the recipe exactly. In the future, I would scoop out the part for the icing, before adding the Chocolate Chips, they made it hard when icing the cupcakes, but that is for later. This was my first attempt at butter cream icing, anything, and it was surprisingly simple.

For the cupcake batter, I'm not afraid to admit that I cheated, a little. Ok, alot. I do have a delicious chocolate cake recipe that I'll probably use in the future.

After making the cupcake batter, I put a little dollop of batter in the bottom, then added the frozen chocolate chip balls.

Please ignore the drips and gross stuff on the cupcake pan, I'm not a very good batter scooper.

I then covered the dough balls, and baked. I'm not going to lie, the smell of them baking had me drooling. Once I pulled them from the oven, and let them cool, I frosted them. So delicious. The Birthday Boy, is going to love them.

And finally I iced them. As mentioned before, having the chocolate chips in the icing, made it a big difficult to get out of my decorative icing tip. In the future I'll scoop out the cookie dough, before adding the chips. Then after icing the cakes, you can sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.

So I'm calling them my Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake Surprise, because you have chocolate cupcakes filled with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Again, thanks for reading! :-)