Extreme Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

Hello again! Been busy enjoying what the season has to offer...pumpkin picking, apple fests, decorating for Halloween...very busy...but very happy. 

Isn't that really what it's all about? Well, that AND the hokey pokey, but I digress.  I do that a lot when typing...it's like an internal monologue...like you're watching yourself on TV and you're the narrator. 

Hmmm...anyway...my latest installment.

So...I guess I have self-appointed myself the "birthday baker" at work.  I like to bake, they all like to eat what I bake...it's a win-win.  Just no cookies...I'll totally eat like half a dozen before they make it onto the cookie sheet and probably another half dozen before they're out of the house.  Not a win in any way, trust me! So I usually choose cupcakes.  They're portioned out, no one else has a bigger/smaller cupcake (I won't sneak one because there has to be 24 per my insane rationalization).  Sometimes I'll do mini's...but I think portion control goes out the window on those though...they're dangerous in my book. You rationalize in your head...Well...they are MINI cupcakes...so if I have 3 or 4 I still have only REALLY eaten 1 regular cupcake...no one will ever know. 

Am I right?

I'm losing you, aren't I?

So I asked for a few suggestions and the major consensus for the October birthdays was "Whatever you want to bake". Did get a suggestion for Mudslide cupcakes, but I made those not so long ago and wanted to try something different. So I got out one of my many cake cookbooks and trolled the internet for ideas based on cookies and cream. I figured, I haven't done those before...so...why not!  

So this post is double duty.  People at work get cupcakes, I get a post...again a win-win.  I should buy some lottery tickets and see if all that win-win spills over to that.  

That would be Sweet! 

Word! (yes, I know I'm too old to use such vernacular, just let it be)

So back to cupcakes.  As I said I went looking around and this is basically a little bit from a cookbook and a little from the internet and a little from me.  The reason I dubbed them "extreme" is because there is SO much cookies n' cream going on all up in these babies...your head might literally explode from it...totally...I'm not kidding...they should have a warning label on them...extreme. :-)

So here we go...

Line your cupcake liners with an Oreo

Crush remaining cookies

 

Mix up your cake ingredients.

Stir in cookie crumbs

Mix up your pudding (this stuff is lethal)

Fill up your cupcakes with the pudding (go easy, not too much)

Mix your frosting

 

Stir in (yet more) cookie crumbs

Get ready to frost these babies!

And here you go!

Because they wouldn't be complete without decoration

BAM!  Extreme!

DIRECTIONS

For the cake

• 24 whole Oreo cookies 
• 1 cup finely crushed Oreo cookies (divided)
• 1 box of plain white cake mix
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 3 eggs (I used large)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling

• 1 box of Jell-O Oreo instant pudding and pie filling mix
• 1 1/2 cup milk

For the icing

• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 3/4 to 4 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup crushed Oreo cookies
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 tablespoons of milk

For garnish (to add insult to injury)

•  24 mini Oreo cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 24 cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
3. Place 1 Oreo into the bottom of each liner.
4. In a zip top bag place remaining cookies and crush up until you have about 1 1/2 cups.
5. In a large mixing bowl, mix cake mix, sour cream, oil, water, eggs and vanilla with a hand mixer until all ingredients are incorporated. 
6. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for another 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
7. Fold in 1 cup of crushed cookie crumbs.
8. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full (about 2 heaping tablespoons, give or take). The batter will be somewhat stiff, you may have to use a toothpick to spread it out around the cookie.
9. Bake for 18-20 minutes. (Until toothpick comes out clean)
10. With a handle of a wooden spoon, poke a hole in each cupcake when they come out of the oven until you feel you've hit the cookie on the bottom (don't break through the cookie) .
11. Cool completely.
12. While the cupcakes are cooling mix up your pudding mix and milk, let it set, fill your completely cooled cupcakes.  If you don't have a cake decorating bag, that's fine. Just use a zip top bag and cut a hole in corner to fill holes in cupcakes.

Make your frosting

1. With hand mixer, in a bowl, mix butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla extract, mix until incorporated.
3. Slowly add powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of milk and mix until you have a light and fluffy frosting (a minute or so).
4. You may need to add the last tablespoon of milk to the above until you have reached the desired consistency. 
5. Scrape down sides of bowl and fold in 1/2 cup of crushed Oreo cookie crumbs. (Make sure they're finely crushed if you plan on piping frosting onto cupcakes with a small tip).
6. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.
7. Garnish with 1 mini Oreo per cupcake.
8. Dig in!

Thanks for tuning in!

Yummiest Carrot Cupcakes

Hello hello!

SO completely glad it's Friday and it's after work...whew...made it through another week.  I told you that I wasn't going to make bars again and I like to keep my promises :-)  This post is a little healthier...by healthier, I mean there is vegetable involvement.  I know, I know...don't be mad.  You will totally want to eat this veggie...carrots.  Not in a salad or by way of crudites...but by way of cupcake...seems like a fair balance to me anyway.  This recipe is a variation on a recipe that I received from...oh let us skip that story...and just  say it's a variation on a recipe that was given to me and yes, I have lightened it up a little fat wise, but I swear to you does not take away from the flavor nor the moistness of  the cupcakes.  This can also be made in a 9 x 13 pan or 2-8 (or 9) inch pans.  But I made cupcakes so that is what I am going with.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Without further ado, I give to you the BEST carrot cake cupcakes with the very appropriate and equally yummy cream cheese frosting.

Line your cupcake pans;

 Prepare your carrots by cleaning and shredding in food processor;

Mix up your wet ingredients and spices;

Add your flour and mix just until incorporated;

  

Gently fold in the shredded carrots;

Scoop your batter into liners and bake;

 

After your cupcakes are baked and cooled, make your frosting.

Super simple, super yummy!

And this glorious little piece of heaven is what you end up with....sigh!

 

For the carrot cake

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups grated carrots (1 pound)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, but especially tasty)

For the Cream Cheese frosting

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 (to 3/4) pound of powdered sugar (eyeball it)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line your cupcake pans.
3. Mix sugar, oil, applesauce and eggs until blended.
4. Mix in remaining ingredients except the carrots until just blended.
5. Fold in the carrots (and nuts if you choose).
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes. (Until toothpick comes out clean)
8. While cupcakes are make your frosting.
9. Mix butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy
10. Add vanilla and lemon extracts.
11. Slowly add powdered sugar until just mixed.
12. Frost cooled cupcakes.
13. Dig in!

 

S'mores Bars

Hello again...I hope you enjoyed my last post...I received a lot of positive feedback from the Pumpkin Caramel Butterscotch bars, I was happy to share my experiment.  It's been a busy couple of weeks and I have done a little experimenting...just a note for those who bake...cinnamon chips do not melt...they brown and eventually burn...just saying.  So that project is still in the "working stage".

So I have had so many ideas running through my head and it's a little scary...a person shouldn't lose sleep over such things.  

But anyway....so here is another bar recipe.  I promise the next post won't be a bar. :-)  

We all remember roasting marshmallows over a campfire when we were growing up and since the beginning of time...or at least since the beginning of Girl Scouts...S'mores have been a part of life.  Obviously best in the campfire setting....you can still make them in your kitchen, the possibilities are endless. I have even made them in the microwave...delish!  

These bars have all the yummy goodness you remember, right down to the melty chocolate and gooey marshmallow.

So here we go with the S'mores Bars...

Take your dry ingredients and mix with your wet ingredients.

Press dough into pan {don't forget to save some dough to crumble on top :-)}

Mix your cream cheese and marshmallow topping together and spread 'er all over!

Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips on top of that...

Then the mini marshmallows....feeling kinda mini that day I guess

Then crumble remaining dough and chocolate chips.

Bake up all that gooey goodness and here is what you get!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbsp light cream(or milk)
• 1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 (12 oz) jar marshmallow topping
• 2 cups mini chocolate chip, divided
• 2 cups mini marshmallows

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl combine cake mix, graham cracker crumbs and peanut butter.
4. In a small bowl whisk the egg and the cream together and add to the cake mix mixture. Stir until combined. Set aside 3/4 cup mixture for topping.
5. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of prepared baking dish.
6. With your mixer, beat together cream cheese and marshmallow topping until smooth. Spread over the top of the crust.
7. Now evenly sprinkle 1 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips, the marshmallows and crumble remaining crust mixture on top of marshmallows, then the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips on top of that. 
8. Bake for 15 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 5 minutes more. You want the marshmallows toasted not burnt.
9. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to refrigerator until ready to serve, at least 3 hours.

Okay, so here is my first "recipe" post. I had made some super chocolatey bars that were similar to these earlier this week and wanted to try something different.  I did talk about them a little bit with a few people, but wanted to save it for here.  These are inspired by the ending of summer and the anticipation of autumn...apple picking, leaves turning color, cool nights...you have to have something to look forward to when the weather has been so hot and we've had so little rain this summer.  As for my recipe creating; I have a feeling I am going to get all covert secret-like when I am coming up with something new.  

As I am new to this, I am totally open to constructive criticism and/or ideas.  Just so you know. But anyway, here goes....

Take you dry ingredients and whisk together:

 

Take your wet ingredients and whisk those too:

Combine the dry and wet ingredients:

Press into pan:

Beat the cream cheese and caramel sauce:

Spread cream cheese caramel mixture:

Sprinkle chips and remaining mixture and bake:

And look what you get!

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope that you give this recipe a try.

Pumpkin Caramel Butterscotch Bars

Ingredients

• 1/2 box of a spice cake mix (15.25 ounce)
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream (or milk is fine too)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup caramel topping (right next to hot fudge in grocery store, for me anyway)
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 

How to make

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9 x 9 pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
3. Weigh out the 1/2 of box of cake mix (7.6 ounces on my digital scale).
4. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, graham cracker crumbs and pumpkin pie spice.
5. In a smaller bowl, whisk the canned pumpkin, egg, heavy cream and vanilla extract together and add to the cake mix mixture.
6. Stir until combined. Set aside 1/2 cup of mixture for topping.
7. Transfer remaining mixture to 9 x 9 pan and using a piece of waxed paper (too keep from getting mixture stuck to your hands), gently press to cover bottom of pan.
8. With your mixer, beat together your cream cheese and caramel topping until smooth. Spread over the top of the crust.
9. Evenly sprinkle your butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips and remaining crumb/crust mixture on top.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and left cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Move to refrigerator until ready to serve (at least 3-4 hours).

Helpful hint: Keep stored in refrigerator but best enjoyed at room temperature.

(Updated 8/29/12) Another hint: You can also make this in a 9 x 13 pan. I would double everything in the recipe...it's amazing the things that will keep you up at night.  The crust will be a little more crumbly, but it'll still be just as good...maybe just a little more dense.