Cookies and Cream Oreo Cupcakes are moist vanilla cupcakes filled with crumbled Oreo cookies and topped with swirls of the best Oreo buttercream frosting. These homemade cupcakes are easy to make and perfect for birthdays!
Oreo Cupcakes With Cookies and Cream Frosting
I always have at least a few bags of Oreos in my pantry at any given time, whether it’s for baking or satisfying my husband’s cravings (the man loves Oreos!). I love having my favorite ingredients handy whenever inspiration strikes. Exhibit A: These incredible, moist, fluffy, irresistible cookies and cream Oreo cupcakes.
These are moist vanilla cupcakes stuffed with chocolatey Oreo cookies. Full stop. Yet SO GOOD. I include the recipe for my favorite Oreo Frosting that I swirled over the cupcakes once they cooled off. It’s a match made in dessert heaven! Cookies and cream never tasted so good.
Why You’ll Love This Cupcake Recipe
These easy cupcakes are perfect for any Oreo lover’s birthday or your holiday dessert menu. They’re also firmly kid-approved! Here are more reasons to love them:
- Simple ingredients. You likely have everything you need to make these cupcakes in your pantry already! And if you’re an Oreo lover like me, chances are you have a bag or two of those, too.
- Ready in 30 minutes. These cupcakes are ready in just 30 minutes, then all that’s left is to cool and frost them.
- Easy to customize. Decorate your cookies and cream cupcakes any way you’d like! Change up the frosting, use your favorite sprinkles, and more. I include some fun decorating ideas later on.
Key Ingredients for Oreo Cupcakes
This recipe borrows the cake batter from my Moist Vanilla Cake and adds a few key ingredients for the ultimate Oreo cupcakes. I include some quick notes below. Remember to refer to the recipe card below the post for the full recipe details.
For the Cupcakes
- Oil – Using vegetable oil in place of butter yields an ultra-tender cake crumb.
- Vanilla – Real vanilla extract deepens the flavors.
- Sour Cream – My secret for super-moist cakes and cupcakes. Sour cream adds unbelievable moisture to the cake crumb without impacting the flavor. If you don’t have it, plain Greek yogurt will also work.
- Milk – I use non-fat milk in this recipe, but you can also use whole milk or 2%.
- Oreos – You’ll need about 15-18 Oreo cookies for the cake, and an additional 12 or so Oreos to use when making your frosting. A standard pack with 36 cookies should be enough for the recipe itself. If you’d like to garnish your cupcakes with whole Oreos (as pictured), go ahead and pick up a second pack.
For the Frosting
- Butter – My buttercream recipes always begin with cold unsalted butter. Make sure that it’s chilled from the fridge, as the extra whipping it takes to soften the butter will yield an ultra-light, silky frosting. Feel free to cube the cold butter so that it’s easier to whip.
- Powdered Sugar – The base of this frosting. You might also know it as confectioner’s sugar.
- Heavy Cream – Make sure to use full-fat heavy whipping cream for the creamiest frosting. You can also use milk, though the texture won’t be quite as luxurious.
How to Make Oreo Cupcakes
Set your oven to preheat to 350ºF while you line the wells of a cupcake pan with liners.
First, mix the cupcake batter. Cream the sugar together with oil, eggs, and vanilla. Afterward, beat in the sour cream. Then, whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry mixture to the batter, alternating with milk until combined.
Add Oreos. Next, crush up the Oreos using a Ziploc bag and a rolling pin and fold the pieces into the cupcake batter.
Fill the pan. Divide the batter between the liners in your cupcake pan. A large cookie scoop works great for this!
Bake. Bake your Oreo cupcakes at 350ºF for 18-22 minutes. Once they’re out of the oven, leave the cupcakes to cool completely before you frost them.
Make the Oreo Frosting
The Oreo frosting for these cupcakes is a cookie-filled spin-off of my Perfect Vanilla Frosting that’s also rich, creamy, and pipeable. While the Oreos in the cupcake can be chunky, the Oreos in the frosting are crushed fine so that the frosting will pipe smoothly.
- Beat the butter. Cut your cold butter into cubes and add it to the bowl of your stand mixer. Then, whip the butter for a few minutes until it becomes light and fluffy.
- Combine. A little at a time, beat in the powdered sugar, whipping in between each addition. Next, beat in the Oreo cookie crumbs along with the heavy cream, and vanilla. Once the crumbs are incorporated, give the frosting one last whip on high for another minute.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t crush up the Oreos too finely for the batter. This gives more variety in the cupcakes’ texture. It’s OK if there are larger chunks in the cupcakes, just not in the frosting.
- Use a food processor to pulse the Oreos for the frosting. This ensures a fine crumb. However, if you don’t have one, you can also use the plastic bag and rolling pin method (in this case, I usually let my kids go at it!)
- Try not to overfill the pan. Your cupcakes may end up with an odd-shaped dome due to the chunks of cookies in the batter. Aim to fill your cupcake liners no more than 2/3 of the way full.
- Take time when beating the frosting. My Oreo frosting recipe calls for some extra time beating the butter so that it gets thoroughly whipped. Trust me, it’s worth the small effort! The buttercream comes out ultra-smooth and makes piping the cupcakes so much easier.
- No piping bag? No worries! Use a Ziploc bag or sandwich bag with the corner snipped off. You can even fit it with a piping tip if you have one. Alternatively, you can use the same large cookie scoop to dollop a scoop of frosting on top.
- Make this recipe as a cake. If you love the flavors of these Oreo cupcakes but would prefer a cake instead, try my Oreo Cookies and Cream Cake recipe.
How to Decorate Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
Once your cupcakes are cooled and your frosting is whipped and ready, it’s time to decorate! I use a piping bag with a large closed star tip to pipe big, beautiful Oreo frosting swirls on top of my cookies and cream cupcakes. See my tutorials on How to Use a Piping Bag and How to Use Piping Tips for loads of helpful piping tricks.
In place of Oreo frosting, you can even top your cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting or Peanut Butter Frosting. If you’d prefer a less sweet frosting, try my recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
When it comes to garnishing, I top these homemade cupcakes with a whole Oreo cookie stuck into the frosting (I mean, can you ever have enough Oreos?). Another option is to sprinkle over chopped Oreos, and you can really top these homemade cupcakes with anything you’d like. Try shaved chocolate, chocolate chips, rainbow sprinkles, or a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
The frosted Oreo cupcakes can be stored airtight at room temperature for up to 1-2 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week. If you keep your cupcakes in the fridge, take them out and let them come to room temperature again before serving.
If you have leftover frosting, you can also store this airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for 2 months. It’s perfect to make ahead in case you’d like to freeze your baked cupcakes, see below. Once refrigerated (or frozen), the buttercream should be brought to room temperature and re-whipped in the mixer for several minutes.
Can I Freeze Oreo Cupcakes?
Yes, though I usually recommend freezing cupcakes before they’re frosted. The unfrosted cookies and cream cupcakes can be frozen for up to 3 months. Store them airtight and thaw the cupcakes fully before you frost and serve them.
Print
Cookies and Cream Oreo Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 26-28 cupcakes
- Category: Cupcake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Cookies and Cream Oreo Cupcakes are moist vanilla cupcakes filled with crumbled Oreo cookies and swirled with fluffy homemade cookies and cream frosting. They’re the perfect party dessert!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 2 cups (380g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon (14.8 ml) vanilla extract
- ½ cup(120g) light sour cream
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons (11.2 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
- 1 ¼ cups (296 ml) milk (I use nonfat)
- 2 cups crushed Oreos (about 15–18 Oreos)
For the frosting:
- 1 ½ cups (339g) unsalted butter, cold
- 6 cups (780g) powdered sugar
- 12 Oreos, crushed
- 1–2 tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
- 24–26 Oreos for garnish (optional)
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
- In a separate bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk; mix just until the flour starts to incorporate. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
- In a large Ziploc bag, crushed the Oreos into small pieces using a rolling pin or something similar. Fold the crushed Oreos into the cupcake batter.
- Using a large cookie scoop, divide the batter evenly, filling each liner 2/3 full.
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes. Test the cupcakes for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cupcake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are done. Cool Completely.
For the frosting:
- Cut the butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip the butter for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally. Beat the butter until it looks lighter in color.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar 2 cups at a time, mixing on low speed until it’s incorporated into the butter. Then increase the speed to high and beat for 30-60 seconds. Repeat until all your powdered sugar has been added.
- In a food processor, grind the Oreos into a fine crumb. Add the crushed Oreos to the frosting along with the heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract. Slowly beat the crumbs into the frosting then beat at a high speed for 60 seconds.
- In a large piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and garnish with more Oreo cookies. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- You will need 2 packages of Oreos for this recipe (14.3 oz size)
- The Oreos in the cupcakes are roughly chopped. The Oreos in the filling should be fine crumbs if you want to pipe the frosting.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 43.9g
- Sodium: 172mg
- Fat: 16.7g
- Saturated Fat: 10.8g
- Carbohydrates: 54.6g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 2.7g
- Cholesterol: 52.6mg
These are delicious. I’ve made them a couple times now as a request by coworkers. What temp and time do you suggest for jumbo cupcakes?
Hi Andrea! I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe! So you could try 375 for a shorter bake window, or you would just need to add time to the existing temp. Honestly, you’d need to do a test to see what works best with your oven and pan. I’d bake 2 cupcakes at a time and see which result you like best. If you want to test a half recipe, I use 2 eggs and 2/3 cups of milk for a half recipe
Do these need to be stored in the fridge?
Please refer back to the information provided in the blog post, it’s right above the recipe card and covers this in detail
These cupcakes are AWESOME ! I made them many, many times and they are always a hit.
You have, by far, the best recipes !
I always come back to your recipes for inspiration ♥️
I love that, thank you so much Brigitte!
I liked this recipe! It was easy to follow – I made about 36 cupcakes and only needed a half batch of the butter cream to frost them. Though I like a thiner layer of frosting myself.
Sounds great Sam, thank you for sharing!
typically i only make recipes from here (here from Pinterest) with lots of comments letting me know it’ll be delicious BUT the Holy Spirit led me to make this one anyone, AND OMG!!!! Daughter of the most high, YOU ARE TALENTED!!! The best cupcake i’ve EVER made and we made cupcakes weekly almost. YOU ARE LOVED, GIFTED AND CHOSEN!!!! LOVED THIS RECIPE!!! Will for sure try your other recipes. Thank you
This comment made my day….no my month hahah. Thank you!
Heyy! I don’t have sour cream available, what can be used as an alternate?
I’m sorry this message got caught in my spam folder and I am just now seeing in. I listed a sub in the blog post. Plain or Greek yogurt
Where did you get your cupcake liners?
These are from Sweet & Treats, they are grease-proof liners so they retain the color after baking
Can I just use a regular mixer for the frosting??
What do you mean a regular mixer?
My batter is kinda watery and I followed the recipe to the T. Should I add extra ingredients?
That sounds correct, it’s a very thin batter
These cupcakes were absolutely amazing and delicious. However i didn’t have much luck with the texture of the frosting. The frosting wasn’t soft and fluffy like buttercream; it was a little more firm even after sitting on the counter for a bit, sort of like the texture of Oreo filling. The 2nd time i made these, i only use the Oreo cookie in the frosting without the filling and it was PERFECT!!
Hi Lauren, thank you so much for sharing! To get a softer and fluffy frosting, also try whipping the butter for long in the beginning, and while you’re adding the powdered sugar. You can also add another tablespoon of heavy cream or milk.