Tuesday, July 5, 2016

A Cupcake Craving - Revisiting Cookies and Cream Filled Cupcakes

I am on deadline. Need I say more? 
That means there's not a whole lotta cooking or baking going on around my house right now. Which really stinks when you suddenly get a craving for something and don't have the time to make what it is you're craving.

What's a girl to do?
Revisit that recipe so all of you can crave these delectable cookies and cream filled cupcakes right along with her. :-D

* * *

A couple of weeks ago, that mischief-inciting Yank, aka Ruthy, introduced us to a wonderful little gadget called the cupcake corer (you can see that post here). Since I love cupcakes, I immediately had to have one. And, once it arrived, my youngest son immediately wanted to make cupcakes. Lucky for me, school work kept him busy for the week, but by the weekend, all bets were off.

It took me a while to get across to him that you just don't make cupcakes and then decide to fill them. If we're going to do this, we at least need to have a plan. I knew the cupcakes would be chocolate, but it became his mission to decide what we were going to fill them with. And when the dust cleared, he'd come up with something I think you're going to love.

Cookies and Cream Filled Cupcakes

I started with my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. You can find that recipe here. Then we took turns playing with the cupcake corer, giving all the cupcakes big belly buttons. You can see our fun little tool hiding there in the back.



For the filling, you will need:

  • 8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
  • 4 oz. butter, salted or unsalted (I only had unsalted, so that's what we went with)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 12 Double Stuff Oreos, pulverized






First, to take care of those Oreos. And no, that does not mean eating them. The recipe only calls for 12, so there are plenty left in the package for eating. Preferably with a nice cold glass of milk. :)
I put the 12 in my food processor and pulsed them until they were where I wanted them. Nice and crumbly, but not powdered. If you don't have a food processor, a zip-top plastic bag and a rolling pin can achieve the same results. Not to mention remove any pent up frustrations you might have.
 
Next, cream the butter and cream cheese. Add the vanilla. Then the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Fold in the crushed cookies.

Sample the fruits of your labor.

Mmmmm....

Now the recipe says to use the filling immediately or refrigerate until ready to use. Of course, if you do this, it will thicken. Since our cupcakes were waiting to have their tummies filled, I spooned the filling to a disposable decorator bag with the tip cut off to give me an opening that was just the right size for the holes I was filling. This didn't take long and got the job done with no mess at all.

However, once they were filled, I had to figure out what to frost them with. I mean what kind of frosting goes well with cookies and cream filling. My son suggested cookies and cream frosting, but I asserted my veto power. Instead, I opted for the chocolate frosting Ruthy touted in her post. (recipe here)


Yet for as wonderful as the frosting was, it was a little overpowering for the filling. Next time, I think I will just dip the tops in a simple layer of ganache. Because, after all, the filling really is the star of the show.


* * *
Don't these look divine? Don't you wish you had one right about now? Me, too. 
Sigh.
However, I am rapidly closing in on that deadline, so I just might have to make these--SOON.

Now it's your turn. 
What's your favorite cupcake?

15 comments:

  1. Oh that is sooo cool!!!
    What did you do with the cupcake holes from the corer? I'm picturing something like cake balls or some kind of glaze like donut holes.

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    Replies
    1. Jana, the cake balls are a great idea, but think we just ate the holes. I mean, they are bite size, so you core one out, pop it in your mouth, expend some energy coring the next one to wear the first one off, then pop the second in your mouth... You get the picture. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

      Okay, now I'm craving cake balls. Thanks a lot, Jana. ;-)

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  2. Jana, we've made cake balls with those little innards before... if the kids don't dip them all in frosting and eat them like popcorn!!!

    Mindy, this is awesome! I'd forgotten the beauty of the cookies and cream filling.... and did you know you can thin that dark chocolate frosting down slightly and use it to dip things? It forms a smooth, lightly glossed coating as it firms up, and I've dipped and double-dipped before. I just use milk to thin it to a dippable consistency, slightly warm... and then it firms up nicely once cool.

    What a delightful combo! I'm in love!!!

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    Replies
    1. No wonder I always get put at the kids table! :D

      Ruthy, I never thought of thinning the frosting down. I still kinda like the ganache idea. Why? Because I love ganache. I'm still tucking your thinning idea into memory bank though.

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  3. I bought the little gadget to make these (to core the center), and then never did! But I packed it and moved it. Someday I will try this! LOL

    Jana, I like the idea of eating the middles!

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    Replies
    1. Missy, you could break that gadget out and make cupcakes for some of the wedding festivities. There's never a bad time for cupcakes. You'll love the corer.

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  4. Oh my! These look wonderful! Thank you for sharing. And it's good to know "you can expend some energy coring the next one to wear the first one off." Love it :-)

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    1. Hi, Laura! These really are delicious. And easy. That's the dangerous part. :-)

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  5. Only a post about cupcakes would have this many comments this early in the morning! Yay, Mindy.

    Jana, I had the same question. I like Mindy's purist way of dealing - just pop in your mouth as you go. But I had an idea too, you could crumble some and sprinkle them on top of that ganache, sort of cake crumb sprinkles. I had that somewhere and it was really good.

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    Replies
    1. That's a great idea, Mary Cate. And just for the record, mine was not the only mouth the cupcake centers went into. I wouldn't have had any room left for the cupcakes. I mean, one must have priorities. ;-)

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  6. Good luck on that deadline. And what yummy cupcakes. I like lava flow cupcakes. But am really not that picky. LOL I'll take any kind. These look really good.

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    1. Okay, Sandra, you've intrigued me. What are lava flow cupcakes? Are they like those molten lava cakes?

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  7. I'm soooo jealous of your icing skills. Mine always look glumpy. I wish I remembered this when our Alpha program was going on. We signed up for desserts though the meals were provided and man, 40+ chocoholics in one room was quite something. Ah well, I'll just have to make up an occasion to make these.

    Happy deadlining!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A room full of chocoholics, huh? So I'm guessing a fruit bowl wouldn't go over real well.

      Kav, I've showed you how I do my icing. It's very basic. The piping tip does all the work. All you have to do is move it in a circle and squeeze.

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    2. Yes well, that may be all you have to do but with me it's more a splat bomb approach. I have no finesse. But I'll keep trying. Eating the failures is great consolation.

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