Peanut Butter Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

I saw these cupcakes and knew I just had to try them.  Lucky for my daughter (ok me) it was right around her birthday.  I decided to make them for her class.  They were a hit!  I told the kids there was a surprise in the cupcake.  One of the boys shouted out "do you know there's an oreo in here?"  So cute!  And they truly were easy to make.

Peanut Butter Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

1 package Oreos
1 package mini peanut butter cups
1 chocolate cake mix or recipe*
Your favorite frosting

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line muffin tins with paper liners (my recipe made about 28 cupcakes - there is space being taken by the cookie.  If you use white liners, you can see the oreo logo through the paper - the kids seemed to think that was cool!). Place an oreo in the bottom of each cup.  Prepare the chocolate cake recipe (see below for my trick to making a super moist cupcake).  Pour batter into each cup until it is 2/3 full.  Bake cupcakes for 8 minutes.  Then take them out of the oven and push a mini peanut butter cup into the batter, you want the narrow part to go in first and try to get the peanut butter cup flush with the top of the batter, but this is not necessary.  Cook for 10 more minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make any cupcake recipe extra moist - add 1 package of instant pudding, an extra egg and 1/4 cup extra of oil.  I use vanilla or butterscotch pudding for vanilla cake recipes and chocolate pudding for chocolate cakes.

Here is how my cupcakes turned out:

Here is the pin:

Source: melssweetlife.wordpress.com via Kristen on Pinterest

A failed pin - homemade fruit snacks

I saw a pin for homemade fruit snacks.  I thought it was a great idea!  I bought all the ingredients, followed the directions and they did not turn out at all.  I used cran-grape juice.  They turned out rubbery (I could barely chew through them) and flavorless.  My first failed pin.

The original pin:

Source: mommysavers.com via Kristen on Pinterest