Cupcake Cookie with Peanut Butter Buttercream

My good friend Gwen from DC was in town visiting, and I wanted to whip something up in anticipation of her arrival. So, I decided to experiment a little since Gwen is a bit of a baking connoisseur. I aimed to please.

I’ve done a very similar recipe in the past. I mean, just look up at my banner and you’ll see the brownie version, with a peanut butter topped oreo inside. But after a few times baking the brownies, I wanted to do more. So, today, I gave the recipe a bit of a remix, and decided to go with a cupcake mix from scratch, with an oreo cookie inside and finished it off with a peanut butter buttercream on top. And boom, now you have what I like to call the cupcake cookie.

Easy to make and definitely a delicious treat. Happy baking and enjoy.

Chocolate Cupcakes – 12-14 cupcakes

• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 1 to 1 1/4 cup sugar (depends on how sweet you want it to be)
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk (I personally use 1% in my household. Use whatever you prefer)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Process

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees, then turn it down to 350 once cupcakes are in.
• Cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Then add sugar. Mix about 2-3 minutes.
• Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until well incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients (baking powder, cocoa, flour) and whisk together.
• Add a portion of the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and mix it just to combine. Add portion of the liquids (milk & vanilla) and mix to combine. Continue adding the dry and wet ingredients, making sure you end with the dry. Mix well, scrapping bowl often.
• Once mixed, with a spoon add a little bit of the batter to cupcake liners (there’s no exact science here, you just want to coat the bottom of the liners). Then place double stuffed Oreo cookie (I live in Wegman’s country and use the double stuffed Wegman’s O’s and they taste the same) in each liner, pressing slightly so batter covers sides of the cookie. Add remaining batter to each liner, covering cookie completely. Each liner should be 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
• Allow to cool, then frost

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk (or light cream)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (you can add more, depending on taste. 1/4 cup gives you a nice peanut butter finish without being overwhelming).

Process

• Cream the butter until smooth and well blended.
• Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually mix in the sugar.
• Add the milk and mix on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
• Add peanut butter. Mix for an additional 2 minutes or so.