Amy

A couple of weeks ago, my husband told me his office was having a potluck and wanted to bring some baked goodies. It’s way easier to bring a tin full of baked goodies vs. a crockpot full of mini sausages with BBQ sauce, so baked goods it was. At first we were thinking brownies, but hey, if you don’t act fast on those potluck sign-ups, the easy goodies get taken (like brownies). So those were out. Cookies were taken, and cake was being brought.

So, I thought…why not bring cupcakes? Sure, cake would be provided but we could bring a fun flavor. 🙂 Then, oreo cupcakes popped in my head. This was yet another recipe that has been forever starred in my Google reader, and now I had an excuse to make them!

There’s many ways that people make oreo cupcakes…some crush them up…some leave them in chunks. I wanted to leave them in chunks so people knew exactly what these cupcakes were, and of course, provide for a fun surprise in the cupcakes. 🙂

Of course, I tried one for quality control. I absolutely loved it. The frosting went perfectly with the cupcake and the oreo/cake combination was just really great tasting together. The next day, my husband told me they were gone by the end of the day, and he got tons of compliments from his coworkers. Guess I should make these again! 🙂

Oreo Cupcakes
Source: Beantown Baker

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 pkg Oreo Cookies (~45 cookies)

For the frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese at room temp
• 1 stick butter at room temp
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves, also for garnishing.
3. Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.
4. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.
5. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.
7. Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.
8. For the icing, cream the butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
9. Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Stir in some of the leftover cookie crumbs (make sure they are well crumbled to avoid a clogged piping tip). To assemble the cupcakes, frost cupcakes (once they are completely cooled) and sprinkle with crushed oreos.

 

When I was researching recipes that St. Louis was known for, I remember consistently seeing gooey butter cake. I thought, gooey and butter? This has to be on the menu! It sounded like it would be a fabulous dessert for the party we held!

I have to admit, I was a little thrown because part of the cake involves yeast. I’ve honestly never baked a cake with yeast before, so I was worried about how this cake would taste. Yeast just screamed bread to me, and bread isn’t really what I would consider to be dessert. However, this cake wasn’t bread-like at all in the end! The bottom yeasty layer was more like a cookie with a warm gooey layer of sweet goodness on top. It was especially fabulous with a scoop of ice cream, and I think this cake would even be more amazing with summer berries!

Gooey Butter Cake
Source: Smitten Kitchen, from The New York Times

Ingredients:

For the cake

• 3 tablespoons milk at room temperature
• 1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping

• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling.

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix the milk with 2 tablespoons warm water. Add the yeast and stir gently until the mixture dissolves. The mixture should slightly foam while mixing.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and salt in a mixer, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the egg. Once that is mixed in, alternate between adding the flour and the milk mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition. Once everything is well mixed, switch to a dough hook on your mixer and knead the dough for an additional 7 to 10 minutes.
3. Stretch and spread dough by hand into a buttered 9×13 glass dish. Lightly cover dish with plastic wrap or clean towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, which is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
5. To prepare the gooey butter topping, in a small bowl, whisk corn syrup with 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla. Cream butter, sugar and salt in a mixer until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the egg. Once the egg is mixed in, alternate between adding the flour and corn syrup mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.
6. Using a spoon, add the topping in large dollops over the risen cake layer, and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until it has a golden brown top. The cake will still be liquid in the center when it is done baking. Once the cake is cool in the pan, sprinkle on confectioners’ sugar and enjoy!