Gingerbread Oreo Cupcakes

Run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

Unless he’s glued to the top of the cupcake….he can’t get very far stuck to a pretty pile of buttercream. In that case you may capture and devour – without a blink. At least that’s what happened to these little guys……

As the days lead up to Christmas break, the kindergartners at my daughters school have been trying to catch that sneaky little gingerbread man. One day he even spoke over the loud speaker, and my daughter has not stopped looking for him since (she’s in pre-K). Yesterday as we were walking out to the car she screamed in horror at what she thought was the gingerbread man ran over in the parking lot. Which turned out to be a potato….for cereal. Seriously, sometimes I wonder about her. Any who all her gingerbread talk reminded me I still hadn’t used up those gingerbread Oreos I bought forever ago, or that gingerbread cake mix I wanted to try out. DUH! Gingerbread Oreo stuffed cupcakes! I make these same cupcake with regular Oreos and devils food cake and it’s my most requested cupcake ever. If your  going to finish a cupcake…it might as well be with a cookie at the bottom right? ;)

I ended up taking these to a Christmas party, so I wanted to make them as cute as they were yummy. The little gingerbread toppers were cut from fondant then a few sprinkles and royal icing to create cheeks, bows, and icing lines. The mouth was made using a small icing tip and the eyes were drawn on with an edible marker. They were pretty quick and turned out cute! If your in a time pinch or fondant is not your thing they will look pretty cute with some regular (or even store bought) gingerbread people!

To make these your going to need:

1 box Betty Crocker gingerbread cake mix
1 package gingerbread Oreos
1 egg
1 1/4 cup water
Butter cream icing:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup crisco
1/2 TBS vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 TBS milk

(more on buttercream here)

*makes 12 cupcakes, you will have a bit extra batter if you would like a few more*

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your pan with cupcake liners.

Step 2: Pull the tops off of 12 cookies, using the cookie with filling still attached lay them icing side up in each cupcake liner.

Step 3: Mix egg, water, and cake mix together in mixing bowl. Spoon 3 TBS of batter into each cupcake liner over the gingerbread Oreo.

Step 4: Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.

Now time for the icing! This is a half batch of my usual buttercream, for pictures and more buttercream info visit this post.

Step 1: Cream together butter and crisco.

Step 2: Add in vanilla, mix well.

Step 3: Slowly mix in powdered sugar.

Step 4: Add in milk one TBS at a time until desired consistency.