Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

I made these a while back but never got to posting the recipe.  I baked them for a co-workers birthday and they were exceedingly popular!

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 30

• Ingredients:
• 30 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, left whole, and a large bag of Oreo Minis (if you can’t get the minis then just chop up some of the large ones)
• 4  8oz. packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed; then beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in about 1 ½ cups of the Oreo minis by hand  (save at least 30 to decorate the top)

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, for about 15 minutes then add one mini to the top of each cupcake and rotate the pan.  Bake another 10 minutes, until filling is set. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

 Happy Feasting!

Two for one ...

I haven’t done anything for a while so I'll treat it up with double cookies.

The first, Ginger Creams, the softest cookies you will ever taste.

 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup water

2 cups All-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 2 pinches of Cayenne Pepper (you can leave this out if you want, I just think it gives them a nice snap)

Cream the butter, sugar, egg, molasses together then add water and mix well.

Mix in the flour a little at a time then add in the salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and the cayenne.

Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8 minutes; until no indentation remains when touched.

You can frost with a cream-cheese frosting or, as I did, dip them in melted white chocolate.

Super Easy ~ super yummie …

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Cookie number 2 ....

Oatmeal Shortbread

 

Ingredients

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

3/4 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour, oats and salt.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Roll and cut as you like; obviously, I chose hearts.

Bake at 325oF for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Once the cookies cooled, I melted a bag of milk chocolate chips with 2 squares of bakers semi-sweet chocolate and a Tbl of cinnamon in a double boiler for dipping and rolled them in crushed Almond slices – a very simple way to make them extraordinary.

Happy Feasting!