Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes

I don't think I really need to do much to sell these cupcakes now that you've read the title of the post. I mean, how can you resist a chocolate cupcake lined at the bottom with an Oreo cookie, stuffed with a mini Reese's cup, and topped with peanut butter Oreo frosting? Need I say more?

I wish this were my brainchild but, alas, I cannot claim credit for this display of just how crazily indulgent and over-the-top one cupcake can be. The credit belongs to Melanie at The Sweet Life. I humbly bow at her feet.

 My motivation for making these cupcakes was to reward the gals in my book club with something extra sweet. This month's book club read was a little... dark. Surprise cannibalism, anyone? Not at all what I expected when I started to read Jamrach's Menagerie so I'm sure the gory, descriptive passages of dismembering and chowing down on former friends came as a surprise to everyone else as well. After reading our way through that gruesome of a story I figured we deserve some sort of recompense. I'm sure you too can come up with a convincing excuse in your life to make a batch of these for yourself. You certainly won't regret it, but then you don't need me to tell you that. The title says it all.

Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Sweet Life

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
20 Oreos (or any chocolate sandwich cookies)
20 mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Line cupcake pans with 20 paper liners. Place one Oreo in the bottom of each liner.

3) Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.  Stir in the chopped chocolate.

4) In the bowl of stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the buttermilk and allow to incorporate for 30 seconds.

5) Pour in the flour mixture and beat on medium until fully incorporated, about 1 minute.  Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners, filling each about 2/3 full.

6) Bake for 8 minutes, then remove from oven and press a peanut butter cup into the center of each cupcake.  Bake for 10 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake near the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the muffin tin to cool completely on a wire rack.  

Peanut Butter Oreo Frosting

  

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

1/4 cup peanut butter

2-3 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons Oreo cookie crumbs

1) Separate approximately 4 Oreo cookies and discard the cream filling. In a food processor or plastic bag, crush the cookies into fine crumbs.

2) In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening on high until fully combined. Beat in peanut butter.

3) Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar and 2 tablespoons milk. Start the mixer on low, then eventually crank it up to high and beat for 2 minutes. 

4) Add more confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.

5) Add the cookie crumbs and beat on high for 2 minutes.

6) Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and store in a sealed container at room temperature.

Mint Oreo Mocha Cupcakes

I'm back, baby! Back with the zany, madcap cupcake recipes. 'Tis the season for overindulgence, right? At least that's the excuse I'm going with for eating these cupcakes. When I saw Baker Royale's Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes I knew they'd be delicious. Of course, somewhere between deciding to make them and actually heading to the kitchen for an afternoon of baking I changed them up a bit to make them even more indulgent.



To start, I reused the idea from my Oreo Truffle Cupcakes to line the bottom of each cupcake with half of an Oreo, this time a mint Oreo for some of that holiday flavor, and nestled a mint Oreo truffle in the center of each cupcake before baking. This resulted in an ooey, gooey, minty center with a fun crunch from the cookie on the bottom. It was like eating a molten mint brownie. Since I lack the patience to make Swiss meringue buttercream and am not too fond of the stuff anyway, I substituted my favorite mint buttercream recipe, the same one that topped my world-famous Thin Mint Cupcakes. Ok, that famous claim might be a bit untrue but that is the most popular recipe on my blog. For good reason. Although I think these new cupcakes might be even better.

I also left the peppermint extract out of the cupcake batter as they were already overloaded with mint from the Oreos and the Andes baking chips. This was probably a good call as the mocha flavor is pretty much overpowered by the mint as it is. The coffee in the batter just seems to enhance the richness of the chocolate flavor rather than standing out as its own flavor. Which is fine with me. The original recipe calls for an extra drizzle of chocolate sauce on top, which looks quite pretty but seems unnecessary to me when there's already so much chocolate in the cake. So I omitted that but if you're up for consuming some extra calories and fat you can snag the recipe for that from Baker Royale.



In the interest of full disclosure, I'll also admit that even though I keep referring to them as "Oreos" I actually used a knockoff version that Aldi sells this time of year. Trader Joe's also has a similar seasonal cookie so anything that vaguely resembles an Oreo with mint flavor should work just fine.

I feel as if I've truly got my baking mojo back with these beauties. They were a hit with my book club tonight and since there are any left I might share one or two with my family. We'll see...

Mint Oreo Truffle Filling
Recipe adapted from Inside BruCrew Life

11 Mint Oreo cookies (or similar), finely crushed
2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Blend crushed Oreos and cream cheese until fully mixed. Shape into 1" balls, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate while making the batter.

Mint Mocha Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Bakers Royale

6 Mint Oreos (or similar substitute)
1 cup (4.5 ounces) all purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and warm
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7.3 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant coffee (recommended: Starbucks Via)
1/2 cup hot coffee
3/4 cup Andes baking chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F and line 12 cupcake wells with paper liners.
2) Divide each Oreo into two halves and place each half into the bottom of each paper liner, frosting side up.
3) In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
4) In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat at medium speed about 40 seconds.
5) Scrape the sides of the bowl and add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat briefly until mixed in. Add 1/4 cup of hot coffee and 1/2 tablespoon of instant coffee. Beat and repeat with 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by the remainder of the coffee and instant coffee. Finish with the last 1/3 of flour mixture. Fold in Andes baking chips
6) Spoon a small amount of batter into the bottom of each well, enough to cover the Oreo cookie. Add one Oreo truffle to the center of each cupcake and top with enough batter to completely cover the truffle.
(You may wind up with a little extra batter as the original recipe didn't use the truffle filling. I made two extra cupcakes in a separate pan without any Oreo filling.)
7) Bake at 350 for 23-26 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Mint Buttercream
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil
Red food coloring (optional)

1) In a large mixing bowl, cream butter for 45-60 seconds.
2) Add powdered sugar and beat at a low speed until the mixture comes together.
3) Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add heavy cream and peppermint oil. Beat until combined and then beat an additional 45 seconds. If necessary, add more powdered sugar for desired consistency.
4) If desired, divide the frosting into two separate bowls and add red food coloring to one. Using a spatula or flat butter knife, "paint" one side of a pastry bag with the red buttercream and the other side with the white buttercream and pipe evenly onto cupcakes.

Bakerella's Oreo Truffles

The other day my husband was surfing the web when I heard him exclaim, "Oreo truffles! Ooh, those look good!" It's rare that he gets excited about any food other than pizza so I had to go check it out to see what sort of gourmet delicacy he was drooling over. Turns out they are the exact same truffles I've made for him in the past, which he's conveniently forgotten about so I get no credit for my hard work. Since Christmas is all about giving (and traffic and the grocery store running out of those crucial Christmas dinner ingredients) I made a last-minute addition to my Christmas preparations and decided to make him some to refresh his memory. It's an old idea but a goodie: Oreos pulverized and mixed with cream cheese, rolled into bite-sized morsels, and dunked in white chocolate bark. Simple and aside from the tedious process of rolling each truffle not too involved. I've made these and the popular cake balls from Bakerella's site several times in the past and although my decorations are never anywhere near as intricate as hers they're still delicious. These are perfect for those of you who aren't bakers but want to give a homemade treat.

Oreo Truffles
Recipe from Bakerella


1 package Oreo cookies (use cookie including the cream center)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
White chocolate bark

1. Finely crush cookies in a food processor and by hand if necessary. Stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together.
2. Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. Pop into the refrigerator while you melt the chocolate bark.
3. Melt chocolate bark as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. If desired, sprinkle with Christmas sprinkles.
4. Once dry, remove from wax paper and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Unless you eat them all before it gets to that stage.

Oreo Truffle Cupcakes

If you're ever in doubt as to what flavor of cupcakes to make for someone, you can't go wrong with cookies and cream. I've been taking them to parties and giving them as gifts for years and everyone's always raved about them. It seems to be the best all around flavor that pleases any crowd of any age. Now, I've always made a simple version from the tried-and-true 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson, which is vanilla cake with crushed Oreos mixed in the batter, topped with a soft buttercream with more crushed Oreos. I never thought it was a formula that needed to be improved upon until last week when Inside BruCrew Life posted about her Oreo surprise cupcakes. Her version includes an Oreo cookie base and an Oreo truffle baked into each cupcake made from crushed Oreos and cream cheese. Simple but divine!

I'm not big on using cake mixes or canned frosting so I simply stole her Oreo concept and used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and my usual cookies and cream frosting from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes. The cookie on the bottom remained crunchy and the truffle filling is a delicious surprise, moist and flavorful and utterly unexpected. I highly recommend these and plan to give some as gifts this Christmas. My only complaint is that the frosting is impossible to pipe because of the cookie chunks, which means I have to go for the more rustic look of spreading it on with a knife. Not as presentable as perfectly piped frosting but just as delicious.

Oreo Truffle Filling
Recipe from Inside BruCrew Life

11 Oreo cookies, finely crushed
2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Blend crushed Oreos and cream cheese until fully mixed. Shape into 1" balls, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate while making the batter.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

6 Oreo cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Cut Oreo cookies in half and place one half in the bottom of each liner, frosting side up, as seen here.
2) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth.
4) Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full with batter. Place an Oreo truffle in the center of each and top with more batter until 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 23-26 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Cookies and Cream Buttercream
Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

1 1/3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces

1) In a small bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together sugar, butter, and salt until well combined. Increase speed to high, beating until light and fluffy. Add cream and vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth. Add broken cookies, beating until mixed.
2) Spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes with a knife or spatula. Garnish with extra Oreo cookies if you haven't already eaten the rest of the package while waiting for the cupcakes to cool.