Triple Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

 

When living life so far from loved ones (and consequently Western Holiday preparations) it can be difficult to remember how to celebrate holidays, or more accurately, that one should prepare special foods for the holiday. Fortunately, I had been brainstorming these cupcakes for months and finally felt the proper amount of motivation upon realizing it the Easter holiday had indeed arrived. 

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes I
ngredients/Directions: 
Adapted from Easy Cupcake Recipes: A simple Step by Step Sweet Cupcake Book and
inspired by this pin on Pinterest.

Cream together 1/2 cup softened Butter and 2/3 cup White Sugar. Whisk in 3 large Eggs followed by 1tsp of Vanilla Extract. In a separate bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups Flour, 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder and 1/4 tsp. Salt. Alternately add this flour mixture and 1/4 cup milk into the butter and egg batter until everything is incorporated. Fill muffin cups 1/2-2/3 with batter and cook in a preheated oven at 350 *F (177*C). After 5 minutes, remove cupcakes from the oven and press an unwrapped Hershey's Cookies and Cream Kiss into the cupcake batter. Return cupcakes to the oven and continue to cook for 12-15 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool (or steal one while the kiss is still warm and gooey) before frosting with Cookies and Cream Frosting.

Cookies and Cream Frosting
Ingredients/Directions:
Adapted from Lick the Bowl Good
Good for 12 Cupcakes

In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup Butter, 1/2 tsp. Vanilla and 2 Tbsp. Milk. Add 1 1/2 - 2 cups Powdered Sugar until desired sweetness and consistency is achieved. Finally, mix in 7 finely crushed Oreo's (original post recommends food processor) and you're ready to frost your cookies and cream cupcakes!


For more sweet eats, check out Sweet as a Sugar Cookies...

 

Orange Curd

I've been spending more time reading cookbooks from my Kindle, just to garner inspiration. In a cookbook entitled Love of Cooking: Salads by Maggie Brooks I spotted a recipe for Lemon Curd. The author then states that Lime can easily replace the lemons in the recipe...I however was lacking both Lemons and Limes and was rather fortunate to have had some oranges recently gifted to me. I decided that Lemons, Limes and Oranges share enough properties (pulp, zestable, citrus) that oranges could also be substituted in this recipe. Friends, oranges are a good and beautiful substitution in a Lemon Curd recipe.

Ingredients/Directions:

In a small sauce pan heat 1 cup Sugar with 1 Tbsp Orange Peel, grated and 1 cup Fresh Orange Juice. Whisk well. Once heated, add 3 Tbsp. Butter and 3 Lg. Eggs, slightly beaten. Stir constantly until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon - about 8 minutes. Pour into glass jar or other container with cover and chill. Can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 months.

I recommend grating all of the orange peel and allowing the surplus to air dry to be used in future dishes.

We enjoyed this curd on top of some home-made Beer Bread.

For more sweet treats, check out, Sweet as Sugar Cookies....