Hey everyone! I’ve got a perfect little batch of cupcakes today! I’ve got a ton of requests for this one, and it’s finally time to share my recipe for Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. They are super easy, and I like to mix mine entirely by hand. You can top with any frosting you’d like, but I love a Swiss Meringue buttercream for this one!
I really love using a vanilla cake base here because you can see the chunks of Oreos running throughout the cupcakes. Let’s get to it!
How to Make High-Altitude Oreo Cupcakes
For the cake base, it comes together super easily and entirely by hand. We’re just whisking together the melted butter, oil, and sugar until well combined. Add in the egg, and then it’s time to work in the dry ingredients, alternating with additions of your milk and vanilla.
When you get to the last flour addition, add in the crushed Oreos at the same time. This coats the Oreos in flour lightly, which helps to make sure they don’t all sink to the bottom of the cupcakes. Fold it all together until well combined, and then scoop the batter into your cupcake tin. They should be pretty full at this point, and then it’s off to the oven for a quick bake.
They come out very lightly golden, and baked all the way through for a fluffy, bouncy cupcake. If you’ve never made a Swiss Meringue buttercream, it’s a super silky frosting that I love with any cake. It does take a ton of whipping, and I recommend that you use a stand mixer if you have one, or at least an electric hand mixer to make it happen!
You want to make sure you fold in the Oreo crumbs at the very last minute for the frosting, which will make it so you have a light grey, flecked, frosting. If you work in the Oreo crumbs too much, the whole thing will turn dark grey! And that’s it, top the cupcakes with your icing, and an Oreo!
Tips & Tricks for Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
These cupcakes come together easily, but there’s a few tips to help you along the way!
- Don’t over mix you cake batter as over-doing it will make it less tender, and can result in the cupcakes sinking in the middle while baking. You want to just fold things together until there are no flour pockets remaining.
- The cupcake cups should be fairly full of cake batter and you should get 12 cupcakes from this batter.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting or the frosting will melt. There’s not really a way to fix it after that, so just let these babies cool!
- Just keep beating the frosting. Swiss meringue has a lot of different stages of mixing, and it will look broken at several points during this process. You just have to keep whipping it for a very long time for it to come together. Sometimes this can take a good 10 full minutes after adding the butter!
- Add the Oreo crumbs at the last minute to the frosting or your frosting will turn a very dark grey instead of a light speckled grey.
Hope you guys enjoy this one!
Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
These are super easy, high-altitude-friendly Oreo Cupcakes!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 2 tbs. canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 15 roughly chopped Oreos
For the frosting:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 cup butter
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 tbs. Oreos finely crushed
- 12 whole Oreos
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. Set aside.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, and canola oil until well combined. Whisk in the egg until just combined. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vanilla extract.
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Add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture and stir until just mixed through. Add in about 1/2 of the milk mixture, and stir to combined. Repeat this alternating mixing until all of the milk is added, and you have about 1/3 of the flour mixture left. Then, add in the remaining flour mixture along with your chopped Oreos, and use a spatula to fold everything together until there are no more pockets of flour remaining.
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Scoop your batter into your prepared cupcake liners. The batter will come pretty close to the top of each cupcake cup, but don't worry, that's how it's supposed to be! You should get 12 cupcakes from this batter. Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting:
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In a large heat-proof bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, set over a small pan of boiling water to make a double broiler, whisk together the eggs whites and sugar until the sugar is dissolved completely, about 5-8 minutes. You can pinch some of the mixture between your fingers to feel if the sugar is dissolved.
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Remove the bowl from the double broiler and place it on your stand mixer if you have one, or use an electric hand mixer. Use the whisk attachment to beat the mixture for 5-8 minutes, or until it is completed cooled, and has become a thick meringue mixture that holds a peak.
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With the mixer running, add in the butter very slowly, only about 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all the butter has been added, increase your speed to medium-high, and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy and smooth. This can take a while, and the mixture will look broken at several stages, but will eventually come together! It can take up to 10-15 minutes at this point, so give it some time. Then, beat in the salt and vanilla extract. Fold in the Oreo crumbs by hand until well distributed. Frost your cupcakes as desired, and top each cupcake with a whole Oreo. Enjoy!
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
These look heavenly! And thanks for the tips and tricks. I can already hear the cupcakes calling my name.
Glad to hear it! So yummy!
These turned out fantastic!! The icing is so smooth and tasty! The cupcake is great too- it's more on the cakey side just like we like! They made my oreo loving birthday boy very happy!!