Oh, oh, oh, ice cold milk...

Anyone remember that commercial? The next line is "...and an Oreo cookie."

I'd like to amend that to "...and an Oreo cupcake."


My friend Lora (waves at Lora) is planning a party for her husband, who's just a few weeks older than I; we each have a birthday coming up soon. (It's not a number I'm particularly excited about celebrating, but I guess it beats the alternative.) She's planning to make several kinds of cupcakes, one of which is Oreo, or cookies and cream - a vanilla cupcake with Oreo chunks within.

We found a recipe and did a trial run a couple of weeks ago, but were less than thrilled with the result; "hockey pucks" would be a little harsh, but we weren't crazy about them, so I told her I'd see what I could do.

What you see in the picture is the result of my experiment. It's a moist, dense cake, studded with Oreo pieces, as well as a half an Oreo on the bottom of the cupcake. She's thinking of a cream cheese frosting; I went with a small-batch butter frosting, which is a little like Oreo filling. Despite being back on Weight Watchers, I have succumbed to the deliciousness of these little numbers. Lots of salad for me to make up the points I spent, but oh, so worth it.

Click here for printable recipe!


Oreo Cupcakes with Small-Batch Butter Frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes

18 ounce package of Oreos (you’ll need two of the three “rows” of Oreos)
1 tablespoon flour
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream (I used reduced-fat)
1 whole egg plus 2 egg yolks at room temperature
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Gently twist apart twelve Oreos. This will leave you with twelve wafers with filling, and twelve plain wafers. Place halves with cream filling, filling side up, in cupcake liners.

Cut 6 of the remaining plain chocolate wafers in half for garnishing cupcakes; a serrated bread knife works well for this task. The other 6 wafers may be chopped or crushed for additional garnishing. Set aside.

The remaining Oreos from the row you took those Oreos from, plus another whole row, should be chopped into chunks; I cut them into quarters. In a small bowl, toss the quarters with a tablespoon of flour, which will allow for more even distribution of Oreo pieces in the batter.

In mixing bowl of stand mixer whisk together dry ingredients. Add sour cream, butter, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla, and beat until smooth, about 30 seconds. Remove bowl, scrape down sides, and gently mix in any remaining pockets of flour.

Gently fold in quartered Oreos.

With a two-ounce cookie scoop, portion batter into cupcake liners.

Bake 24-28 minutes. Tops should be slightly browned, and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the center of a cupcake.

Cool 10 minutes in muffin tin, then remove to rack.

When cool, frost with vanilla frosting.


Small-Batch Butter Frosting

Yield: about 2 1/3 cups

16 ounces (1 pound) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
4 to 6 tablespoons milk or half-and-half
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch salt (omit if using salted butter)

In large bowl, with mixer at medium-low speed, beat confectioners’ sugar, softened butter, vanilla, salt, and 3 tablespoons milk until smooth and blended. Beat in additional milk as needed for easy spreading consistency. Increase speed to medium-high, and beat until light and fluffy.