Last Wednesday was my Boy Cupcake’s birthday, he’s now an old man at the ripe old age of 31 (okay, I told him he was an old man last year when he turned 30).  We had such a fun dinner at a hibachi restaurant, can you believe it was his first time?  It’s always a good time, I mean who doesn’t like dinner theater.  And my favorite part is the onion volcano, it gets me everytime they light that thing on fire.

I was wracking my brain to think of a cupcake that I should make him and tried to get some ideas by asking him what he might want.  Can you believe he told me I didn’t have to make him cupcakes?!?!  Yeah, okay, as if I’m not going to make someone cupcakes for their birthday.  I decided to go with Oreo cupcakes because even though I’ve done them before, they are soooo delicious.

[Inspired by Annie’s Eats]

For Cupcakes

Makes 12

• 12 whole Oreo cookies
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 Tsp. salt
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 Tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 plus 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 Tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups roughly crushed Oreo cookies (about 15-20 cookies)

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 12 paper liners
2. Place an Oreo at the bottom of each cupcake liner
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy
4. Mix in egg whites one at a time, blending well after each addition then add vanilla extract
5. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, and baking powder
6. Add half of the dry mixture to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture
7. Mix in the milk, blending until just combined
8. Add in remaining dry ingredients and mix to combine
9. Gently fold in crushed Oreos with a spatula
10. Divide among cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes

For Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 Tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 4 cups powdered sugar

1. Beat cream cheese and butter together until well blended
2. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time and add in milk to desired consisstency
3. Mix in vanilla extract

These cupcakes are pretty amazing.  When I took them out of the cupcake carrier to have one for Boy Cupcake’s birthday, all you could smell was the Oreos and the cream cheese frosting.  Yum!  I’ve made these before but this time I added in more crushed Oreos to the batter and left them in bigger chunks, which was perfect.