Oreo Stuffed Cupcakes

Few things evoke drooling like cupcakes and Oreos.  Actually, to be 100% honest, I never had an Oreo until my first year of college and to this day I'm not a huge fan and would much rather eat a Pepperidge Farm Orange Milan cookie or something to that effect than an Oreo.  It wasn't until I was married that I even purchased my first boxy thingy (what the shit are those things? carton?) of Oreos and that was when I discovered they come in more than just chocolate and they come in single, double, and even triple stuffed.  He-rizzle is a fan of the golden double stuffed, just an FYI.

So one day whilst food shopping, which I absolutely loathe on so many levels, for some reason this strange idea struck me:  What if I take these Oreos and put them at the bottom of a cupcake?!  And thus, an idea was born that is actually really good, even if you aren't a fan of Oreos!  I'm not even the biggest fan of sweets and I always manage to eat 3 of these cupcakes in one sitting, and then proceed to hate myself and shackle myself to the elliptical rider for hours upon hours and let Jillian Michaels yell at me ad nauseum cause I'm a fat ass.

All you need is a box of cake mix, a pack of Oreos, and cupcakes liners.  As I said, He-rizzle likes the golden Oreos, but I used regular old chocolate Oreos this time around.  I stick with my girl Betty for cake mixes!  Depending on how much Oreo you want in the batter crush up about 8 Oreos or more--I buy two packs, crush up half of one, use the other pack for the cupcakes, and leftovers are always eaten by the hublet.

Make the cake batter as directed and stir in the crushed oreos.  Easy right?!

Put your cupcakes liners in, place a dab of batter on the bottom--just enough for a thin layer--and then put the Oreo on top like so:

You can skip the thin layer of batter if you want, but then the Oreo kind of sits at the bottom, which is peachy keen and no problem at all.  I just find the Oreo gets moist and not so crunchy if you bury it a little.  Personal preference.  Anyway, fill up your cupcake liners 2/3 full and you are ready to bake as directed on the box.  It may take a little longer to bake, so just an FYI.

When they're done, let them cool and frost however you want. I frosted with a whipped cream cheese frosting that is kind of my go-to frosting, which I think is the case for most people.  It's easy enough to make.

Ingredients:

1 8oz package of cream cheese cold
1/4 cup butter cold
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or to taste)
16 ounces of confectioner's sugar

In case you didn't notice the bold lettering, make sure the cream cheese and butter are COLD!  No softening, no room temping, no microwaving--use them cold!  You'll need a high power mixer, and if you have a stand mixer then awesome for you!  Put everything but the sugar in the bowl and mix until light and fluffy, then scrape the bowl and mix it some more.

 

From this....



To fluffy this!

And of course, my little helper is always watching to make sure I'm fluffing it properly:

Mom, totally needs a little more fluffing. What is this? Amateur hour?!

So once it's fluffy, slowly add the sugar until smooth and once it's smooth turn the mixer as high as it goes and whip it on up for about 5 minutes until it gets super fluffy.

If I wait here, something will come.  If I wait here, somethin will come....

Yes, we want Mr. Sampson fluffy!  If it's a little runny, put it in the fridge before frosting your cupcakes, and I always put my cupcakes in the fridge promptly after frosting so they keep a nice piled high cloud appearance.  That's what works for me.  You do you.  So anyway, you get fluffy frosting.

Not as fluffy as normal in the above pic (apparently things tend to cool off when you're making sure your child isn't launching all of her toys into the air to hear them go boom when they hit the floor, or throwing those toys at you..ahh motherhood), but it's almost there and you get the point.  Then, frost away.  I haven't committed to a cake decorating set yet, so I just use a ziplock bag with a corner cut out. In this case, I should have filled the bag, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes, and then piped, but I'm getting lazy in my old age so I frosted anyway.  If you cut a little tooth into the bag you get a line--I know! I'm so clever. 

And no matter what the case, whatever you end up with is delish!

Bad Blogger

Uch, I know I'm awful; however, in my defense, I did have a 3 day business trip last week that left me little to no chance to get onto the ol laptop and crank shit out.  Well, I mean I did get on my laptop, but it was to actually, you know, work.  Damn that work!  Gets in the way of everything huh?

Not much new is going on here, and no new exploits to really explore.  As I said I was in Vermont for most of last week, and aside from the feeling that my heart was missing because it was two long nights away from my darling little angel, the trip was fun albeit work related.  We had plans to spend the week there and snowboard, but for unforseen circumstances that I'm not even going to go into, I just left Tuesday morning for the meeting and returned Thursday afternoon.  If you're ever in the Vermont area I highly recommend the Equinox Hotel--it's modern yet still has that old world charm.  The drive up was the longest I have been away from Wee-rizzle aside from actually going to work, and the distress was palpable.  So palpable I think I checked in about 30 times a day to make sure she was ok, and much to the chagrin of He-Rizzle, wrote out an extensive list of everything it is that I do for her and the rundown of things 'cause not only am I Type-A, neurotic, and OCD, but I'm a schedule whore.  My how I have changed since my glory days of singledom and kidlessness, huh?

Anyway, He-rizzle did well, she was alive and in one piece when I got home so all my worry was for nothing.  That said, if I've learned anything during my short stint as a mother it's that there's no logic to any of the array of emotions you feel when it comes to your little one(s), and if prompted to leave again for a night or two I'd feel the same way and probably do it all the same.  I will say a part of me felt absolutely amazeballs when He-rizzle was telling me how terrible bathtime was and how she was screaming bloody murder the entire time.  Evil of me? Oh fuck yea, but it truly is nice to know that there is at least one thing I do better than anyone else!

In other news I started the 30 Day Shred, and so far it's doable.  My abs hurt like hell, so I'm hoping for results, but the scale hasn't budged yet.  Bastard. 

And back to work I go.  I promise some more cooking stuff soon.  To who?  I don't know, but I kind of like having a place to feel self important and like I'm awesome!

Cream Cheese Frosting Filled Snickerdoodles

When I woke up this morning to nothing but the very tips of Wee-Rizzle's toes on the video monitor I knew it was going to be one of those days, but when I walked into the nursery to see Sofie sleeping right next to the crib as if on watch, I thought well maybe it will be just half of one of those days.

It's a balmy -2 outside and I have a three day weekend from work. Even better?  I finished up all the laundry, shopping, and cleaning yesterday.  So, you'd think this fairly tired Momma would rest, relax, and lounge all day, right?  Nope, too logical.  Instead I'm baking!

Thanks to the awesomeness of Pinterest, I'm never lacking in things I'd like to do, whether it be baking, cooking, crafting, or making a list of things for He-Rizzle to do. Today I'm trying my hand at a new recipe and tweaking it for, what I hope is, the better.

He-Rizzle's absolute favorite cookie is the Snickerdoodle.  He seriously loves them and can eat a dozen before I've blinked, so when I saw this recipe it was a no brainer because who doesn't love cream cheese?  Know what people love even more than cream cheese?  Cream cheese frosting.  So, I decided to tweak the Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles, and make it Cream Cheese Frosting filled Snickerdoodles.

I started with my standard Snickerdoodle recipe and added the cream cheese.

Ingredients For Snickerdoodles:

1/2 cup butter, sofened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Ingredients for Filling:

1 8oz package cream cheese
1tsp vanilla
Confectioner's Sugar to taste--I put about 4 tablespoons.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 C)

Cream together the cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar til it's a little fluffy.  I used my stand mixer because I hate mixing cream cheese, and I'm also lazy!

Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  It'll look something like this:

Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.  I use 1/2 tablespoon to make my balls cause I'm super OCD like that. I also am using a paper plate because it's nap time and they are quiet!

Flatten the ball and put a layer of the cream cheese mixture on top.

Place a thin layer of dough on top of the cream cheese layer, pinching the sides down.

Roll into a ball, then roll the ball in a mixture of the sugar and cinnamon.  I go heavy on the cinnamon because I love cinnamon, it's pretty healthy, and it's purdy.  I've used sugar crystals before and those work really well, but I forgot to buy some at the store so I used regular old sugar.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 8-10 minutes. Pardon the ghetto fab cookie sheet.  I never use the good ones until I know it won't ruin anything, stick, or go splatter all over.

And tadaaaaaa! Snickerdoodles with cream cheese frosting filling!

It's hard to see the cream cheese, but it's there!  They're pretty tasty! I went light on the cream cheese this go around because I wasn't sure how it would bake, so next time I'll put a little more. Either way, it gives it a nice little oomph when you bite in!

Well, Well, Well

I came, I went, I came again, and not in a fun way if you catch my drift.

This blogging thing and I are at odds so much of the time, and yet I always feel compelled to find my way back here.  Every time I go on hiatus, I turn into a one woman Four Seasons working my way on back here to tell a world that really couldn't care less all about my follies and forays.

So what's new?  Not much.  We moved to New York, and, oh yea, we had a kid!  She's fabulous.

Stay tuned for more.  I'll see if I can actually stick to this for once.