Thursday, April 23, 2009

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes


The truth is that I love all things cookies and cream, so I have been dying to make cookies and cream cupcakes. However, I am not a huge fan of super sweet desserts so I decided to compromise my desire with my non-sweet tooth and made vanilla cupcakes with cookies and cream frosting. The results are fantastic and these might just be the best cupcakes I have ever made. Seriously.

For the cupcakes themselves, I opted to try Amy Sedaris' recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes from her book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence which Kate Mac gifted to me a few Christmases ago--just to be clear, it wasn't a Christmas present, just a gift she happened to give to me around Christmas. She would want me to clarify that....

Here is the recipe as quoted from Amy Sedaris' book:

Turn oven on to 375 degrees F.
You will need:


Unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, flour, milk

Put 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in 1 1/2 cups of sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can really be stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla, 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 1/2 cups of flour, and 1 1/4 cups of milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about 2/3rds full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I am doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted 2nd best by New York Magazine.

Back to me (Jenn) now...This recipe is freakin' fantastic! Best vanilla cupcakes I have EVER had! Moist, fluffy, and delicious. Highly recommended...not to toot my own horn or anything...

Oh! and to add my own touch, I twisted a cookie in half and placed the side that got all the cream in the bottom of each paper cupcake liner (cream side up). Does that make sense? This way each cupcake had an Oreo "crust" of sorts.

For the frosting I whipped up a basic vanilla buttercream (one box confectioners sugar, one stick unsalted butter, one teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup milk--whip it good). Then I added 15 food-processed Oreo cookies and mixed them in really well.

I decorated half of them with 1/2 a cookie stuck in the icing on top, but didn't like the way it looked. I prefer simple. So I opted not to photograph those specific cupcakes.

Anyway...you must try these cupcakes. End of story.


(you can kind of see the oreo cookie at the bottom)

3 comments:

Jordan said...

awesome. I'm totally trying this. Except I don't have a fancy frosting tip to make them look as good!

Jenn Ford said...

you can just snip the tip off a plastic zip lock bag--it won't have the lines in the icing, but it will still look cute:) be sure to let me know how they turn out!

Kelly said...

These sound extra yummy Jenn Ford! Can we pretty please get together soon! I haven't seen you since your wedding!