Cafe Lula

Are they still cookies and cream if I left out the cream? I did have some in the fridge but it was a week out of date and I didn’t really want to poison Chris’s colleagues. Not when they say such nice things about my baking.

My mum did not, up until a few hours ago, approve of Oreos. “I don’t like them”, she said. “They taste synthetic”, she said. “No daughter of mine is ever eating Oreos. I shall disown you if you do!”, she said (I may have made that last one up). Since my mum and I generally have the same taste in food, I didn’t bother to try Oreos until about two years ago, when their unbearable cuteness got the better of me. Now I love them. And I made my mum try these cupcakes and she liked them. A lot. In your face, Mum.

In case you need anymore convincing that these are amazing, I made them for Chris to take to work once and ever since then he has come home with requests for more every. single. week. This morning I sent 20 of them to work with him and they were all gone by 10:30am. Yep.

The original recipe uses normal Oreos, twisting them so that one half has the filling and one half is plain and only using the side with the filling. In this case, you could use the plain side for cheesecake bases, or process them to make crumbs to decorate the top. I decided to be a bit of a smartypants and use the double-filled oreos, cutting them in half through the filling, so that each side of each biscuit had the same amount of filling on. You can do either.

Cookies and cream cupcakes

Adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Beantown Baker

Makes 24 cupcakes, or 42 if you use the smaller (fairycake) cases

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

12 double stuffed Oreos, halved, with filling on each half (one half per cupcake, you will need more if making these in smaller cases)

280g/2.25 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp baking powder

115g/1 stick butter, at room temperature

350g/1.5 cups caster sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature (click here for some ideas on how to use up the yolks)

2 tsp vanilla extract

225ml/1 cup milk

20 oreos, quartered

For the frosting:

225g/8 oz cream cheese (I used full fat Philadelphia)

85g/6 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

500g/4 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp double (heavy) cream (optional)

24 mini Oreos (about 3 packs)

Preheat the oven to 165C/350F and fill two 12 hole muffin trays with paper cases. Put half a double stuffed Oreo in each case, cream side up.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I creamed them together using a wooden spoon and then whisked them for a bit with an electric whisk). Blend in the egg whites, one at a time, then add the vanilla. Beat in half the flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder, then the milk, then the other half of the flour and the remaining 1/2 tsp baking powder. Fold in the quartered oreos.

Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake for 16-20 minutes, until golden. Cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

In another bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in the vanilla, then sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth. If you are using cream, beat it in at this point, until the frosting is light and fluffy. Frost the cupcakes and decorate with mini Oreos. Stuff your face.