A Give-away winner and Oreo Cupcakes!

Drum roll please....duuuuummmmmm....and the winner is......dummmmmm....Meggin!!! Thank you for your support and for participating everyone. After a high tech raffle (drawing names from a hat in front of 3 witnesses ) , the recipe organizer is yours Meggin. Congrats!! Please email me your info at mendenhall.lindsey@gmail.com. I will ship it asap. For the rest of you...eat some cupcakes!

I can pretty much down sugar like it is water. Hey, it's a gift! It is very seldom that I taste something and say, "Wow, this is sweet." But, these oreo cupcakes were just that...rich and sweet. They were delicious! My tip would be to not do the fancy swirls and mounds of frosting. Do your normal little swipe of frosting with a butter knife. That is all you will need. The actual cake recipe is amazing. I will be adding it to my flavor options for customers. Something different from the norm. Kids... and the kid in you... will love these!!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Put the following ingredients in your cart:

For the cupcakes:
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:
Oreo cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves

Put your apron on and get busy...

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.