Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cupcakes

I always encourage Julian to get into the kitchen with me and cook.  I figure one day this may pay off as he will be able to cook for himself and probably a girl as well (I cringe as I say that lol).  He has multiple cookbooks geared towards children and he can also peruse my selection of cookbooks.  He was really wanting to make a dessert, and saw an ice cream cake in the Williams and Sonoma Children's cookbook.  We would never be able to eat an entire ice cream cake, or maybe we could but we don't really need to.  I asked him if we could mix it up a bit and make ice cream cupcakes instead.  This was actually way more fun than we thought it would be.  You don't need very much cake batter for the bottom layer of the ice cream cupcake, so we took mini oreos and folded them into the remaining batter and baked cupcakes as well.  These aren't overly complicated but tasted and looked amazing.  He did a wonderful job!  Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cupcakes


Ingredients:

• 1 pint cookies and cream ice cream
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 bag mini oreos (2 if you plan on eating them as you bake like we did)
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. confectioner's sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. 

Make cake mix according to package directions.  Place one tablespoon of cake mix in the bottom of the cupcake that is sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.  Let cool completely and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  While the cupcakes are in the freezer take the ice cream out to softened.  Once the cupcake bottoms are ready, fill the cupcakes up about 3/4 full of ice cream leaving a little space on top for the whipped cream.  Place the ice cream cupcakes in the freezer to set for an hour or two, until firm.

Meanwhile prepare the whipped cream.  In a large bowl beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form.  Add the vanilla and sugar and beat until firm peaks form, making sure not to over beat the cream.  Once the ice cream is set, fill each muffin to the top with whipped cream.  I leveled off the top with a spatula to make them smooth.  Place the muffins back into the freezer to set overnight.  

Once your ready to serve place one mini oreo in the middle of each cupcake.  They should pop out very easily with a butter knife that was ran under hot water. 

*With the leftover cake batter you can easily make 12 cupcakes, which is what Julian did.  He crushed up some oreos and folded them into the batter and baked as per the package directions.  He topped them with milk chocolate frosting and vanilla frosting.  Each cupcake had a mini oreo stuck in the frosting for decoration.