The doorbell rang one night, and upon investigation, I found that a mysterious GoPuff order had shown up on my doorstep. There was no way to return to sender, no GoPuff delivery driver was in sight. The bag was sealed with a sticker. And inside the bag, it was a munchies miracle. I ignored my own common sense that was telling me I maybe shouldn’t start eating strange and random bags of snacks that appear on my doorstep. I summon strangers from the internet to drop off food at my house multiple times a week, so I was confident that this mistaken GoPuff drop-off was a harmless old address mix-up and I obviously began digging in.
Inside were so many wonderful snacks that I could hardly believe my eyes. Doritos and Cheez-Its and Ben and Jerry’s Frozen Cookie Dough. Nerd’s Ropes (not my favorite but I wasn’t complaining), and gummy worms, and lastly, several King Hershey’s Cookies N Creme Bars. Whoever this order actually belonged to a) knows exactly what’s up when it comes to snacks, and b) must have been beyond devasted when their order never showed up. I hope they got someone from GoPuff to fix the situation and replace the order that ended up fatefully in my hands. I really do.
Anyway, long story long, I decided to save the Hershey’s Cookies N Creme Bars from the GoPuff order to use as a topper on some Cookies and Cream Oreo Cupcakes.
And so the cupcakes were created soon after, with a dark chocolate cake base, topped with Oreo cream cheese frosting. The cupcake garnish includes an Oreo and of course, a piece of Hershey’s Cookies N Creme chocolate. I’ve made them before, and I’ll make them again. A classic cupcake leveled up, with a piece of Cookies N Creme chocolate, thanks to a mistaken snack delivery order that appeared one night on my front stoop.
Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter 1 1/3 sticks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
For the Frosting
- 8 oz 1 bar of cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup 1 stick of butter, softened
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 4 cups of powdered sugar
- 12 Oreos finely crushed
For the Top
- 18 Oreos
- 18 pieces Hershey's Cookies N Creme Chocolate
Instructions
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Heat the oven to 350° F and line cupcake pans with 18 cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder and set aside. Use a standing mixer or hand-mixer to cream the butter. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until smooth.
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On the lowest speed, alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two. Beat only until smooth and fully combined, you don’t need to overwork the batter.
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Scoop the batter into the prepared pans filling each about two-thirds full. Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center turns out clean. Cool the cakes in the muffin tins for about 5 minutes and then remove them to a rack and let cool completely.
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To make the Oreo cream cheese frosting, use an electric mixer to beat an 8 oz bar of cream cheese with 1 stick of butter for about 3 minutes, or until well-blended. Add in 2 tsp of vanilla extract, and slowly add up to 4 cups of powdered sugar (you might want to add more or less powdered sugar based on your desired consistency for the frosting). Using a food processor, crush up 12 Oreos into fine pieces, and slowly stir them into your frosting.
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Once your cupcakes have fully cooled, transfer the frosting to a piping bag and swirl on top of each cupcake. Finally, place an Oreo and a piece of Hershey's Cookies N Creme Chocolate on each cupcake. Enjoy!