Easy Oreo Cupcakes!!

Okay, so you all know by now how untalented I am in the kitchen, well I found this Oreo cupcake recipe and I just had to try it out to see if they were better for Aubrey's party than the cookie dough cupcakes that I made last month. http://moorecraziness.blogspot.com/2011/12/results-review.html. So I used store bought cupcake mix, to simplify it!

So here is the original recipe I was "following"...
It's off of Annie's eats blog. http://annies-eats.com/2010/06/02/cookies-and-cream-cupcakes/  (FYI, She really doesn't recommend substituting or changing the recipe at all because it can mess with the results). This is just one of the reasons I did a test run before Aubrey's birthday, well that and to compare yumminess!

Ok so this is what I did:

I took regular Oreo's...

Twisted enough in half to fill the bottom of each cupcake liner, then put the ones I couldn't break nicely enough in a bag on the side and add some of the other halves (the ones without cream) into the bag. The recipe had asked for 20 chopped Oreo's to mix in, I did about 15 because 20 just seemed like a lot.  I also didn't not cut mine up. I crushed them in the bag, most of them were smaller than quartered (the original recipe says to chop them into quarters) which is how I wanted them. 

 I made the cupcake batter, Pillsbury is my favorite!! 

 Then I folded in the cookies, making sure not to mix it up too much. 

 I am really glad I did less of the cookies, because the batter was super chunky (as you can see) with the 15 so I'm worried if I did more the ratio of batter to cookies might be off. I would hate for the cupcakes to fall apart. 

 I baked for 18 minutes, and they got a little browner than they normally would. So I think next time I will try it for 16-17 minutes, but I think they might not be fully cooked at that point. If they aren't I'll just keep them in, I don't mind a little golden color!

 I frosted them with the cream cheese frosting (Pillsbury again, I just like their cake stuff best).  She made a cream cheese butter cream (I am not a big fan of butter cream, I've come to find out). 

 Once frosted I hade Greg try it first, he is a huge Oreo fan, and I'm counting calories right now so I was trying to resist. 

Greg thought they were great, so I of course HAD to try a bite for myself (for the sake of this post of course)! 

Well let me just tell you, they were AMAZING! I love them, they are a cookies and cream lovers dream! I personally like these just a tad better, the cookie dough ones can be quite heavy and sweet. Greg is taking them to work so all his co-workers can compare them to the cookie dough cupcakes. So I'll let you know what the consensus is. Either way I think I might just make BOTH for Aubrey's birthday, because these were SO simple and yummy! (Oh and they were cooked perfectly even though they were a little dark on top, still super moist!)

Penne a la Betsy Review!

I went into this meal so skeptical. It got such great comments about how amazing it was, but I have tried other recipes that had similar reviews. This is a VERY simple recipe, so really how yummy could it be?

OH- MYYY- GOSHHHHH was I wrong!

This to me is the most amazing meal I have ever made with my own two hands. I don't think I ever need to go to another Italian restaurant again (if you know me well, you know I am CRAZY about Italian restaurants). Seriously though, I might be making this meal once a week!

So here is how easy it is!

 Cook the shrimp for a few minutes in 1tbsp butter and 1tbsp olive oil. I cooked them on medium heat.  Then when done put them on a plate and cut into chunks. 

Cook penne pasta until al dente. (I did this while the girls napped and just put in the fridge, to try to save time). 

 Then in a large skillet heat up 2tbsp butter, 2 tbsp olive oil, and garlic. I used 1.5 tsps of jarred minced garlic (I'm not fancy enough to cut up cloves of garlic).

Then add in one small diced onion. Since onion's hurt my eyes too much to cut, and really I find it to be a pain, I bought the pre-cut, so much easier! Cook for a couple minutes! Then add in a 1/2 cup of white wine! Cook for another couple of minutes.

Then add in 8oz. canned tomato sauce, then 1 cup heavy whipping cream. 

Cut up italian parsley and basil (1 tbsp each) and add in! (I also cut these during the girls nap to help speed things up!) I did a little less parsley then it called for, mostly because I wasn't sure I would like it. 

Add it in! 

That's it!! Simple, right??

So the only thing I might try next time is to add some fresh chopped tomato! I just love a little chunk! I think I would add them in when I put the tomato sauce in. I don't want them to be too cooked or mushy. 

I still can't even believe how yummy this meal was and the nice part is it makes a ton! So I have enough for another whole meal's worth!! Can't get much better than that! 

Here is the link again to the actual recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/09/cooking_with_my_punk-ass_little_sister_penne_a_la_betsy/ (she says you can make it with chicken instead, or veggies, or on its own!)

So easy, and SO yummy!!

The Results/ Review (Cookie Dough Cupcakes)...

So we had a surprise visitor tonight, so I pushed making my cupcakes up so he could try them too!

Big mistake.

Saying I am a beginner at baking is probably a bit of an understatement, I bake most things from a box and have never made homemade frosting on my own before. I have made it with my Mom a few times but mostly with my Dad when we use to make carrot cake together (my fav)!

So making all three of these steps separately wasn't going to happen.

So here is how it went:

First I got out my pre-made cookie dough...

Then rolled them in small balls and put them in the freezer...

I mixed up the cake batter, it seemed much thinner than the nice thick cupcake batter the original poster used...

Dropped the frozen cookie balls on top...

Baked at 350 for 16 Minutes...

Mixed up the frosting and frosted one (I am not going to frost the others until the day of)...

So my BIG mistake I mentioned earlier was making them too soon. The frozen cookie ball was not "frozen" enough (I had them in for 6 hours, should of done more like 12). So instead of cookie dough inside, I ended up with more of a under cooked cookie. (Sorry the picture is awful, the cupcake was still warm because I wanted to try one asap!!)

Here is a close up of the frosting (no flash to try to get a more accurate color). Looks like cookie dough doesn't it!! YUM!

Needless to say they were DELICIOUS. Yes, even with my mistake they were still yummy. I promise I will do better for Aubrey's Birthday! I am glad I did a trial run, now I can figure out how to do it better! I definitely recommend making these, if you are more advanced go for the original recipes. Either way I think they will be AMAZING, because how could cupcakes and cookie dough ever be bad!! 

Oh and here is the link one more time to the original recipes! http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/new-recipes/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cupcakes.html

UPDATE: Great news!! They are filled with cookie dough, not cookies! This morning I wanted to see how they were cold, since I was impatient and ate one warm! Well I think I thought it was cooked because of the melted chocolate chips. Well I am happy to say that is not the case! I just had one and it was delicious! Yes, yes, I know cupcakes for breakfast probably not the smartest choice, but I had to do it for the purpose of my blog. :) That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!