Oreo Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a creation for my goddaughter's first birthday party. Although she had far more fun with the cake, the adults and older kids enjoyed these cupcakes. They were best eaten with a fork. I had difficulties with the cupcake recipe itself not rising properly, but I thoroughly enjoyed the cocoa nibs in the chocolate I used.

Oreo Cupcakes
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
8 oz. dark chocolate, melted
3 large eggs, separated
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 cup milk
8 oreo cookies, crushed

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 18 muffin tins.

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks. Then mix in vanilla and chocolate.

In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Alternate adding this flour mixture and the milk to the butter/sugar mixture. Then stir in oreos.

In separate bowl, whip egg whites until peaks form. Fold the batter into the egg whites.

Fill cupcake liners almost to the top. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Rather than rising tall, my cupcakes oozed over the sides. They tasted fine but looked less than desirable without some doctoring and made the oven smell like burning cupcakes. Yummmm.)

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Cream softened butter and shortening together. Slowly add powdered sugar and then vanilla on low speed. Once combined, cream together on medium-high until fluffy.

Final Preparations
Cut each cupcake in half horizontally. Spread a layer of frosting in between the layers to replicate an oreo. Top each cupcake with additional frosting and crushed oreo cookies.