Tag Archives: Cupcake

Monday Menu ~ Oreo Surprise Cupcakes

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A few weeks ago I entered to win the Oreo Play Up Dessert challenge set forth by A Nut in a Nutshell (I didn’t win by the way) and put together a very tasty dessert.

So here’s a riddle for you… what do you get when you put together a tasty cookie and a moist delicious cupcake and then top it with creamy vanilla frosting?

Awesomeness! Pure bliss… Oreo Surprise Cupcakes.

My family wasn’t sure what to think since I haven’t been making a whole lot of desserts lately but that didn’t stop them from enjoying every last cupcake that we had in the house. I was surprised that they lasted more than two days!

oreo surprise cupcakes

Such a delicious dessert is beyond easy to make and is really only one more step than regular cupcakes!

Ingredients

1 cake mix – any flavor made according to the directions
1 box of instant pudding – vanilla for a yellow cake and chocolate for chocolate
Oreos – your choice of flavor
Frosting – your choice

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and put cupcake papers in a regular sized cupcake pan.

Make the cake according to the package and then stir the dry pudding into the cake batter…. trust me, this is delicious and adds a lot of moisture to your cake or cupcakes.

oreo surprise cupcakes

Place approximately 1 tablespoon of batter into the cupcake liner, place a Oreo on top, and then top with more batter making sure that the cookie is fully covered.

Bake for about 15 – 18 minutes. When you can handle the cupcakes (about 5 minutes or so) take them out of the pan and let them cool on a rack.

Frost & top with crushed Oreo’s if you like.

To crush the Oreo’s throw some into the food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs or put them in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin. The latter is a great way to take out some stress too!

I should let you know that there is nothing low calorie… low fat… or healthy about these at all! But I didn’t have to tell you that though… so that means that just one Oreo surprise cupcake won’t hurt your New Year’s resolution.

Monday Menu ~ Cupcakes

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Who doesn’t love cupcakes? I know that I do… little bites of delicate cake that you can make miniature, big, or just regular sized. Filled or frosted or even both are absolutely delicious and who can resist one of those tasty treats. And with that thought I decided to try and come up with some unique and delicious cupcakes that I can share with all of you.

This could be a lot of fun because one of my passions is baking and coming up with tasty treats to share with friends and family. Although a new flavor of cupcakes every week could lead me shopping at the local tent & awning store for my clothing… chances are many of them will end up at the office!

This week my inspiration is coconut and chocolate… two of my favorite things and similar to a Mounds Bar I suppose. Really, it started with a quick bread mix that I found at Target and using the alternate directions on the back of the box and and the thought that I could make them better than just plain cupcakes.

Target coconut quick bread

Ingredients

  • Coconut quick bread mix
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1 stick of butter melted
  • 1 egg
  • 12 dark chocolate Hershey Kisses

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place 12 cupcake papers in a cupcake pan.

Mix all of the ingredients together except for the kisses.

batter in bowl

Using a small scoop – I used my Pampered Chef scoop – and put one level scoop into each cupcake paper. Now here comes the fun part… in the middle of each place one Hershey Kiss and then top with another level scoop of batter.

Hershey Special Dark Kisses

kiss in the middle

Bake for about 25 minutes. When they’re done resist the temptation to eat one and let them cool on a rack until they’re completely cooled and then frost.

Cooling cupcakes

Frosting

1/2 cup shortening – I used Crisco

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cocoa powder – I used Hershey’s Special Dark

4 cups of powdered sugar

3 – 4 tbsp milk – you can use more or less depending on the consistency you want.

Whip the butter & shortening together and then add in the cocoa powder and vanilla and mix till combined. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix well then add in the milk until it’s the consistency you want.

Frosted cupcakes

These cupcakes are incredible for something that came from a box mix! The cupcake itself was moist and full of coconut flakes while the frosting…. oh the dark chocolate frosting is… mmmmm…. delicious!

Now, if you can’t find this mix at your Target you can use a white cake mix and add some coconut flakes and coconut extract and get the same results.

Tasty cupcakes

OH… and here’s the biggest surprise of them all! I used my DSLR for all the pictures this time instead of my iPhone!

So back to cupcakes… what flavor would you like to see me create? Do you have a favorite flavor?