Cookies and cream cookies

The amazing Kelly from american cupcake in london has a recipe for a cookie that cannot help but cheer you up.

I was having one of those days. I had gotten up at the crack of dawn to get to work super early so that I could fit everything I wanted/needed to do into my day. The Edinburgh weather however had other ideas and decided to wreck the roof of my flat, cue water coming through the bathroom ceiling. Cue having to abandon work and cue worrying whether the roofer could sort it out.

So to let out the stress and anger I could either smash plates (expensive) or oreos (potentially delicious). I had stumbled on this recipe a while back and it popped back into mind. I had all the ingredients except oreos, nothing a quick trip to the corner shop did not solve, and so I was good to go.

I defy anyone to not be cheered up by these cookies, they certainly made my day a lot better (that and the roofer fixing the problem, yay!)

I could wax lyrical about these cookies for ages but I shall simply say they are absolutely lovely. TRY THEM! If you want to recipe you can find it here.

Cookies and cream cupcakes

I mentioned a few posts back about baking a selection of cupcakes to give away. I have already detailed the raspberry champagne cupcakes and next up is the turn of the cookies and cream cupcake.

Everybody probably has their own interpretation of how exactly this cupcake should be assembled but this is the one I came up with on the day. A chocolate cupcake filled with bits of broken Oreo, and a vanilla buttercream, containing finely crushed Oreos, as the frosting. The whole thing was topped with half an Oreo.

The chocolate cupcake recipe that I used was the basic chocolate cupcake recipe from the hummingbird bakery. Of course if you have another favourite chocolate cupcake recipe use that instead! I only needed 6 cupcakes and found that 3 Oreos broken up into the batter mix was enough to give each cupcake plenty of texture.

Cookies and cream cupcakes

Makes 12

For the cakes:

100g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g soft unsalted butter

120ml whole milk (I used semi skimmed and all was fine)

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla paste

6 Oreos broken up

For the frosting:

80g butter

250g icing sugar

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla paste

3-4 Oreos, very finely crushed

6 Oreos cut in half

Preheat the oven to 170⁰C/Fan 150^oC and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases.

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and butter in a large bowl and beat on a slow speed, with either an electric hand mixer or free standing mixer, until well combined and a sandy consistency.

Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla extract together in a jug and add half to the dry mixture.

Beat slowly to combine and then a little quicker to beat out any lumps. Add the remaining liquid mixture and beat slowly to combine. Do not over-mix. Finally fold in most the broken up Oreos reserving a few pieces. 

Divide the mixture between the cases, each one 2/3 full, sprinkle the top of each one with a few pieces of the reserved broken up Oreos. Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven until they spring back to the touch. Note the mixture will be very slack, do not panic this is how it should be.

Remove from oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

To make the frosting beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla together, at first the mixture will look a sandy consistency, but be patient, it will eventually come together. Add the milk a table spoon at a time, and continue to beat for 3-5 minutes until very light and fluffy. Finally slowly beat in your fine crushed Oreos until combined.

Using a piping bag or a palette knife frost the cupcakes and top them with half an Oreo. 

Oreo brownies

I have a brownie pan that is calling out to me to be put to proper use. I bought it during lent whilst I was off chocolate and so clearly no brownies were going to be made then. It did not languish in my cupboard for months however, it has had a couple of outings, first to hold my cinnamon buns and secondly for foccacia bread.

But now the time has come, I want brownies, and the pan can at last fulfil its true purpose.

I had half a pack of oreos left from baking cupcakes at the weekend, and figured waste not want not, and lobbed them in too. If you want plain brownies just leave them out!

Oreo brownies (Adapted slightly from Hummingbird bakery cookbook)

200g dark chocolate

175g butter

300g caster sugar

115g plain flour

15g cocoa powder

3 eggs

Oreos broken up (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170^oC/fan 150^oC and line you brownie pan with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate and butter until smooth (I did this in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water).

Once melted, remove the butter chocolate mix from the heat and stir in the sugar until fully incorporated.

Add the flour and cocoa powder to the bowl and mix until combined.

Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and add to the bowl, mix until smooth and then finally stir through the oreos.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and cook for 30-35 minutes until lightly flaky ontop but not overcooked.

Leave to cool in the pan then cut into chunks.

A few notes, I only had 7 oreos left but I think 10 would be a good number to go in oreo brownies.

These brownies were lovely and fudgy in the middle, and I am one of those people who like a bit of a crisper edge, however my very corner pieces were maybe a tad crisper then even I like. I think next time I would cook them in my oven for 30 minutes. Every oven varies so it may be a case of trial and error with your brownies, even so I have no doubt that they will be delicious.

Finally my recipe says to cut into 12 chunks, even as an avid brownie lover that seemed large! So I cut into 20 chunks, I have no issues with people going back for seconds!