4th of July (Or Anyday) Cupcakes

We had a great group of friends over to fellowship and eat (of course) for the 4th of July, and so it seemed only necessary to throw together a few good desserts for the sake of good company. 

I must admit, when thinking about what I was going to fix, my mind went, instantly, to a woman's blog (which I love to read, btw) and about the rockin' awesome cupcakes she just fixed.  They seemed easy enough, so I gave them a shot.  Here's the finished product (oreo cupcakes!):

 

I really don't want to take any credit for these, because I did take them completely from her blog, however, that's what blog friends are for, so I'll encourage you to go here to read her rendition about these cupcakes (and see her rocking awesome pictures... I'm learning a lot from her skill), and you'll see how her sweet husband bragged on them so much that he told her she should blog about them!  

For those of you who are in a hurry, here's the low-down in a nutshell: 

One box yellow cake mix, prepare as directed.  Put cupcake liners in cupcake pan.  In the bottom of each liner put one Oreo cookie, as is.  (I've found that because of the cookie in the bottom, this made more like 30-32 cupcakes rather than the 24... important for the next step.)  Crush all of the rest of the cookies in a ziplock bag.  Add half of the crushed cookies to the prepared cake batter and stir well.  Fill cupcake liners.  Bake.  (Take a couple minutes off of baking time due to cookie in the bottom.) 

For icing: 

4 1/2 cups room temperature butter, mix with 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  Beat until fluffy.  Gradually add another 5 1/4 cups powdered sugar (I found this to basically be a 2 pound bag), beating well.  Add 1 1/2 Tbsp. of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Mix well.  Mix in remaining crushed cookies.  

Now, in the Lemonade Makin' Mama's pictures you will see beautifully piped icing on her cupcakes (not to mention the adorable cupcake liners), I like piping icing on anyway, rather than spreading it with a fork, so I thought I'd go for the desired look.  What I found was that I must not have crushed the oreos quite enough because they were getting stuck, so I gave up and just used the coupler, and they didn't turn out too bad! :)  Another side note... if you want pretty cupcakes, crush your cookies well!  

I normally use an icing recipe with crisco rather than butter, and the difference was HUGE between the two... but I must say, this just worked with these cupcakes.  

Mmmmm mmmmm good! ;) 

-A