Cookies n Cream Cupcakes Round 2

I know I haven't blogged since leaving Japan but I've never stopped wanting to continue sharing my passion for baking and creating delicious treats to put a smile on someones face.  Some big changes occurred in those two years.  The biggest, we moved to Germany and we had a baby! She was born in late December of 2015 and I absolutely adore her.  Lately I've had that itch again to resume my blog and decided to give it a go.  Though I needed to make some minor changes to help me not only be able to blog, but work full time, take online classes, earn my next rank and of course spend as much time as possible with my daughter.

Thanks everyone for stopping by and checking out my blog!

Heres the latest Cupcake, for some reason just this month alone everyone in my work center has a birthday in September.  I have literally made 4 different kinds of Oreo Cupcakes in 3 weeks.  I look like I'm the one with an Oreo addiction.  These are pretty awesome though, by the way did you know they make Cinnamon Bun Oreos??  I had a friend give me a package of them and hinted (not very subtlety) that I should make cupcakes.  Well I did and will be sharing those soon as well.

This is the site and link for the recipe I used to make the cake portion of the cupcake.

http://www.baked-in.com/2014/06/16/cookies-n-cream-cupcakes/

I just lessen the sugar from 2 cups to 1.5 cups.


Oishii Treats Original 

Cookies n Cream Buttercream 

1 cup milk, with 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar (not powdered)
leftover cookie wafers, crushed (from recipe above)

Directions

- Using a small stove top pot add in your milk and place heat on high, add in your flour and whisk until the mixture starts to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.

- Keep whisking the mixture for another 1-2 minutes until its thick and has the consistency of pancake batter or cake batter. Remove from heat and immediately transfer the mixture to a ramekin or bowl and let cool to room temp. 

- In a electric mixture beat the butter and sugar together for 7-8 minutes on high, the mixture should be white and fluffy. Beating the butter and sugar together for this amount of time will help the sugar dissolve better.

- Add in your cooled milk mixture and whip on high for another 4-5 minutes, the sugar should almost if not be basically dissolved. If it is still slightly grainy the sugar should still dissolve the rest of the way when you pipe it on the cupcake.

- Fold in your crushed cookies and use a pipping bag and a large tip to pipe onto your cupcakes 

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcake

There was another birthday this Friday, my friend and co worker Mark is turning 31 and I asked what type of cupcake he would like and instantly everyone else piped in with what they wanted...of course lol. Mostly they wanted me to make the cookies and cream cupcake again. But after thoughtful consideration and compromise we agreed on an Oreo Cheesecake Cupcake and Mark was very pleased :)  oh Oreo's you hold a special place in everyone's heart.

Okay I want to share some big news. I've been feeling anxious, nervous and excited to begin my new career path in the military. For the last 9 years I've been a AGE mechanic, basically a grease monkey that works on all support equipment for every type of aircraft. I change tires, oil, engines you name it.
Well a draw back to that line of work comes in the form of chemicals; Jet fuel, oil, hydraulic fluid, grease etc.
For years my skin has been exposed to the corrosive substance and while on a deployment in Iraq last year I started to become allergic to the chemicals. I would break out all over my body, I developed very bad eczema and for the entire 8 months in Iraq I was on a constant diet of steroids and antihistamines to help, but nothing really did.
 It also didn't help that the shop we worked out of didn't have running water, so I wasn't able to wash my hands when they were dirty and working 12-13 hours shifts, 6 days a week I was over exposed on a daily basis. After coming home from Iraq the doctors thought it would be in my best interest to change jobs, the only thing that truly helps me is reducing my exposure in the workplace.  So after 9 years of working my bum off as a mechanic I will be leaving for tech school this month to become a........PARALEGAL! Talk about a total 180 degree change.

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes
From Martha Stewarts book Cupcakes

Ingredients
30 Whole Oreo's and 12 Chopped Oreo's (I also added some extra crushed mini oreo's in the batter)
2 lbs Cream cheese = 4 (8oz) 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Large Eggs (beaten)
1 Cup light Sour Cream
pinch of salt

Directions
Preheat the to 275 degrees
Line a cupcake tin and place a whole Oreo in each cupcake liner.
Beat the cream cheese in a electric mixer on medium high speed until smooth, gradually add your  sugar. Add the vanilla, mix until combined and slowly add the beaten eggs. Add your sour cream and salt beat until combined.  Stir in your crushed oreos. Fill your cupcake liner to almost the top. Bake for 22-25 minutes rotating the pan once half way through.  Cool on a wire rack and place in the fridge for 4 hours to set or over night.
*I had some issues with moisture, if I let the cheesecake cool in the tin it started to sweat and the liners would get very damp. To stop that I immediately would remove the cheesecake from the tins after coming out of the oven and let them cool in their liners on the wire rack and once cooled down I transfered them to the fridge.

*Update, I also linked up with Fabulous Friday too share my Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes and to see what other wonderful bloggers have posted for this fun event. If you want to join check out the site. Fabulous Friday and I also linked up with Freedom Fridays  another fun Friday event.