Week 4: Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes, Cappuccino Chip Cupcakes

Every once in a while, I find a recipe that is so simple I feel like I should keep it to myself.  But I can't help but share Martha Stewart's recipe for Cookies & Cream Cheesecakes.  This is a perfect recipe to make with kids, who will enjoy placing whole Oreos in each cupcake liner...but will mostly enjoy eating these cute little cheesecakes. :)

Whole Oreos as the crust? Pure brilliance.

So I typically try to avoid baking more than once a week, for fear that all of these calories will catch up with me...but also because my co-workers are starting to question my sanity.  But I came home one night mid-week and just felt like baking something else.  So I pulled out my quick-and-easy Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook and decided to whip up some Cappuccino Chip Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting.  Oh my good lord...this frosting is amazing.  The cupcake texture wasn't perfect...seemed a little too fragile...but it was a perfectly yummy carrier for the frosting.

Did I mention that I decided to put all my Wilton Cake Decorating course lessons to use this week?  That's right...this frosting was piped with a pastry bag and decorating tip. 

Guess what I discovered?  It takes FAR more frosting to cover cupcakes when you're piping a giant swirl on top.  So some ended up with just a cute little smear of frosting & some sprinkes.

Slightly out of practice on the cake decorating front...but I managed to get one perfect swirl.

Lessons learned and recipe thoughts:

1. Make twice as much frosting if you want pretty, piped swirls.

2. Oreos make a perfect cheesecake crust.

3. If you bake treats twice in once week, co-workers start to ask whether you are thinking of leaving your job and opening a bakery.


Martha Stewart's Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

Makes 30

Ingredients:
42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.


Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor: Cappuccino Chip Cupcakes

24 paper lines for cupcake pans (2 1/2-inch size)
1/3 cup water
4 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Mocha Buttercream Frosting
1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips or cracked roasted cocoa beans for garnish

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.

Place the water and instant coffee in a small glass liquid measuring cup and microwave on high power for 40 seconds. Remove and stir until the coffee is dissolved. Set it aside to cool for 5 minutes.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and coffee in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. 18 to 20 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottom of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wine rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare the Mocha Buttercream Frosting (see below).

Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or the back of the spoon, taking care to cover the tops completely. Garnish with the remaining 1/3 cup chocolate chips or roasted cracked cocoa beans. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Mocha Buttercream Frosting

1/4 cup milk
1 heaping teaspoon instant coffee granules
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
2 ounces (1/2 bar) German's sweet chocolate, grated
3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 Tablespoon water, if needed

Place the milk and instant coffee in a small glass liquid measuring cup. Plan in the microwave oven on high power until the milk is hot enough to dissolve the instant coffee, 30 to 40 seconds. Remove and stir until the coffee is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Place the butter in the large mixing bowl and add the coffee and grated chocolate. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture has softened, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners' sugar. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Blend in up to 1 tablespoon water if the frosting seems too stiff.