I may spend the majority of my time in the kitchen figuring out how to pack lots of vegetables, whole grains, and legumes into a simple yet flavorful dinner, but I can’t pretend that packaged food never makes an appearance in our house. There’s just something about Oreos I can’t resist, even though I know they’re full of junk.

I swear I’m not trying to make all the cupcakes out of Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, but lately every recipe that’s jumped out at me as I scroll through dozens of food blogs happens to be from that book.

These are awesome, and if you’re at all hesitant about making cheesecakes this is a great place to start, because you get all the good qualities of a cheesecake without having to worry about cracking or water baths or springform pans. They’re easy to put together, and the hardest part is definitely waiting the four hours they need to chill (but you can speed that up by putting them in the freezer for some of the time).

Recipe:
(adapted from 52 Cupcakes, originally from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)

22 Oreos, 16 left whole, and 6 coarsely chopped
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature (Neufchatel is fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 F.
Line 12 standard muffin tins and 4 ramekins (or 16 muffin tins, if you have them) with paper liners.
Place 1 whole Oreo in the bottom of each lined cup.
Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
Pour in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Beat in the sour cream and salt.
Stir in chopped cookies by hand.
Pour the batter into the prepared tins, filling each almost to the top.
Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, 22-25 minutes.
Cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, on a wire rack, then transfer to a plate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Until I saw this post over at Brown Eyed Baker, I had never heard of Black Bottom Cupcakes. Upon discovering that they combine chocolate cake with a cheesecake filling, I realized that my 24 years of life have been missing something.
I had been meaning to make these for a few weeks now, but life always finds a way of interfering with my plans. Fortunately this morning everything fell into place and I was able to whip up a batch. The recipe is much simpler than the cupcake’s appearances will have you believe. 25 minutes later, these magnificant little confections will be all yours!

I found that I had a LOT of cream cheese filling…so I put quite a bit on every cupcake, filling the cups completely. I was a little distracted while they were in the oven so some of them browned a little too much, but they still taste amazing. The only changes I made to the original recipe were to add some vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and some instant espresso to the cake batter.

(from Brown Eyed Baker, original recipe by David Lebovitz)
For the Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

For the Cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons naturally unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the Filling: Beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla and egg until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.

Make the Cupcakes:
1. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 12-cup muffin tin, or line the tin with paper muffin cups.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, instant espresso, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring just until smooth. Stir any longer and you will over mix the batter and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.
4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely, which is fine.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed. These moist treats will keep unrefrigerated for 2 to 3 days if stored in an airtight container.

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