Death by Oreo Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes plus Oreos plus buttercream frosting with more Oreos = Oreo cupcake heaven!  This recipe from Java Cupcakes uses a made from scratch vanilla cupcake batter which needs to be doubled.  While I haven’t tried it (yet), I suspect you could use a “dressed up” vanilla box cake mix if you were in a time crunch.  It’s the Oreos that make this cupcake special, not necessarily the vanilla cake.

Death by Oreo Cupcakes

Ingredients: 

Oreo Cupcakes

• 2 packages Oreo cookies
• Vanilla cupcake batter , doubled.

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 sour cream, room temperature
• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups cake flour, sifted 3 times
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/8  sugar
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, soft & at room temperature
• 4 Tbsp vegetable shortening

Oreo Buttercream

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 sleeve of Oreo cookies
• 1 bag of Mini Oreo cookies – for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners and place a whole Oreo at the bottom of each liner.
2. Prepare the vanilla cupcake batter:
3. In a small bowl , whisk together the egg whites, egg, vanilla extract, 1/4 cup of the vanilla milk and sour cream. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, sift the cake flour three times. Add the baking powder, salt and sugar and sift two additional times.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour mixture with the butter and shortening on medium speed for about 30 seconds or until it looks finely clumped.
6. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla milk and mix until just combined. It will be thick. Scrape the sides of the bowl again.
7. Add the egg mixture in three parts, mixing for 20 seconds on medium speed and scraping the sides of the bowl between each addition. NOTE: DO NOT OVER MIX the batter. You want it to be smooth with all the ingredients incorporated.
8. Crush into chunks about 25 Oreo cookies. Fold this into the batter.
9. Scoop batter into cups at least 3/4 full.
10. Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
11. Cool in pan for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

1. Cream butter until smooth using an electric stand mixer.
2. Add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. If it becomes too difficult to make smooth, add a Tbsp of cream at a time to loosen it up.
3. Mix in the vanilla and salt.
4. Add more cream until you get a smooth or spreadable consistency. Beat on high for about 5 minutes.
5. Using a food processor, blend the remaining whole Oreo cookies until no chunks remain. Add this to the buttercream and mix until combined.
6. Top each cupcake with frosting and garnish with a Mini Oreo.