Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

Please allow me to introduce you to my new best friend, Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. In case you need any convincing about how amazing these cupcakes are (which you probably don't), they received numerous compliments along the lines of "this is the best dessert I've ever eaten." These were actually just an afterthought for me since I had so many oreos left over after stuffing chocolate chip cookies with them. Turns out they're more of a revelation than an afterthought.



It's hard to tell from the photo, but the cupcake batter is filled with oreo chunks and baked on top of half an oreo (quite similar in style to these Mini Oreo Cheesecakes, actually). The frosting is a hybrid cream cheese/buttercream, and is the perfect light compliment to the massive quantity of oreos that these cupcakes deliver into your mouth. Although I'm a sucker for anything oreo-related anyways, I can say objectively that these will melt your heart. At the very least, they're a front runner for best cupcakes I've ever made.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
Adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Beantown Baker
Makes 24 cupcakes
Printable Recipe

For the cupcakes:
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For the garnish
Oreo cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo half in the bottom of each liner, cream side up.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract.

4. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

5. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

6. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

7. Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.

Winemaker's Grape Cake

I experienced my very first grape cake at the little French bakery stand at the Dubai Farmers Market last month. It looked so interesting and novel that I had to buy one. It enjoyed it so much that I made it my mission to get hands on the recipe. It took a bit of research, but I finally found it. The Winemaker's Grape Cake.



I never would have thought to use grapes in baking. I love them for snacking, in salads, and even pickled. But they work unexpectedly and perfectly in this cake. That light texture that I adore comes from using half butter, half olive oil, and the lightness is further highlighted by the use of both lemon and orange zest. I'd recommend this cake for brunch or afternoon tea, although it could also play the role of dessert quite well. I halved the grapes, but if you prefer to leave them whole, that would work as well.



Winemaker's Grape Cake
Adapted from Patricia Wells
Serves 8-12
Printable Recipe

Butter and flour for preparing the cake pan
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup (135 g) sugar
4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60 g) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup (6 cl) extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup (8 cl) whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (200 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of sea salt
Grated zest (yellow peel) of 1 lemon
Grated zest (orange peel) of 1 orange
10 ounces (300 g) small, fresh purple grapes, halved (seedless or, if using seeded, seeds removed)
Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Generously butter and flour a 9" springform pan, tapping out any excess flour. Alternatively, line a buttered and floured 9" round cake pan with parchment paper, then butter and flour the parchment. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and lemon-colored, about 3 minutes. Add the butter, oil, milk, and vanilla extract, and mix until blended.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the lemon zest and orange zest, and toss to coat the zest with flour. Spoon the mixture into the bowl of batter and stir with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix once more. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the liquids.

5. Stir about 3/4 of the grapes into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.

6. Place the pan in the center of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, then sprinkle the top of the cake with remaining grapes. Bake until the top is a deep golden brown and the cake feels quite firm when pressed with a fingertip, about 40 minutes more, for a total baking time of 55 minutes. Remove to rack to cool. After 10 minutes, run a knife along the sides of the pan.

7. Release and remove the side of the springform pan, leaving the cake on the pan base (or if using a regular cake pan, invert the cake onto a platter). Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar just before serving. Serve at room temperature, cut into thin wedges.

Giveaway Winners!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in announcing the 500th post giveaway winners. I got a little sidetracked by some last-minute Greece.







I'm back in Dubai now, and ready to play! I want to send my sincerest thanks to everyone who entered the spice giveaway. Your comments validated all of the reasons that I love blogging, especially the part about community. I'm so grateful for your support.

Winners, please send your mailing address to playinghouseamy@gmail.com and I'll send your spices out as soon as I figure out how to navigate the UAE postal system. A big congratulations to the following commenters:







Thanks again to each of you, and cheers to the next 500!

#500, The Dubai Spice Souk, and A Giveaway!

This is my 500th post. I don't really have words for how much food that is. Could you imagine sitting down to a meal of 500 things that I've cooked and baked? That would be so nutty. Sometimes I look at my blog traffic and try to imagine all of those people in the same place at the same time, bonding over good food. That would be nutty too. And an amazing party.





I have a tradition of pausing every hundred posts (#101, #200, #300, #400) to reflect on Playing House. Post #300 is still my favorite thing I've ever written, and it all still rings true.





In honor of me actually maintaining a hobby for more than 5 minutes (which, before starting this blog, was completely unprecedented), I have the best giveaway ever to share with you. It's genuinely one that I would be excited to win, and I hope you will be too.



As you may know, I'm currently living in Dubai. Three winners of this giveaway will receive a package from me with an assortment of spices, herbs, and seasonings from the Dubai Spice Souk (market)!





How to enter:
Leave a comment on this post by midnight Pacific Time on Wednesday, February 16th, 2010.

You can say anything, tell me who you are, where you're from, what you like to cook, how you found Playing House, share your favorite recipe, or just say hi! I'd also love it if you would tell me your favorite dried herbs & spice(s). No guarantees, but it's possible that I can accommodate requests for the winners.

I'll choose three winners on Thursday using a random number generator. Thank you so much for being here, this whole game wouldn't be nearly as fun without you.

Hugs,
Amy I.

Edit: Entries are now closed, thanks to all who commented!

Ginger Mint Fruit Salad

You may have noticed that I've been on butter/sugar/flour overload here recently. Obviously I haven't only been eating cookie-stuffed-cookies and sugary Middle Eastern pastries, but I've been craving fresh fruits and vegetables like mad for the last couple of days. I think my kitchen asked my body to give me a hint.



Ginger is my new favorite thing. It's another addition to my long and ever-growing list of Things I Used to Hate and Now I Love (some of the more ridiculous items on that list are butter, puppies, and basil. I know.). After I came across the recipe for this Ginger Mint Fruit Salad, I was out the door and on my way to the store for the ingredients less than 5 minutes later.

This recipe is great for a few reasons. Besides its obvious freshness and versatility (use any kind of fruit you'd like), it's really easy to make, as long as you're able to set aside a few hours for the syrup to chill. The mint lends a surprising sophistication to it. I know that sounds silly, but I sure as hell wasn't hip enough to think of adding mint to a fruit salad before Epicurious recommended it.

And perhaps the best thing about this recipe is the surplus of ginger syrup. The salad only calls for a fraction of the syrup that you wind up making. So you get to keep this extra deliciousness in your fridge and use it to sweeten your tea, pour over your ice cream, moisten your cakes, splash into your sparkling water (my personal favorite), or anything else your imagination comes up with. You could also halve (or even quarter) the syrup recipe, but what fun would that be?

Ginger Mint Fruit Salad
Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

For ginger syrup
3 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cups thinly sliced fresh ginger (1/2 lb; from a 10-inch piece), left unpeeled

For fruit salad
4 cups (1-inch pieces) fruit (such as mixed berries, melons, peaches, and/or nectarines)
3 tablespoons small mint leaves

1. Bring water, sugar, and ginger to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan, then stir until sugar is dissolved. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Pour ginger syrup through a sieve into a bowl, discarding ginger.

2. Chill, covered, at least 2 hours.

3. Toss fruit and mint with 1/4 cup syrup, or to taste. Extra syrup keeps, covered and chilled, 2 weeks.

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is just one word to describe these cookies: ridiculous. In the best way possible, of course. A cookie within a cookie is just pure genius. Like, a "why didn't I think of that?" kind of genius. Luckily for all of us, Jenny at Picky Palate did think of it, and I'm here to vouch for her recipe.



If you want to make something completely over-the-top and indulgent that is sure to impress your friends (and even your enemies), you should consider making these cookies. That's really all I have to say about that.

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Picky Palate
Makes ~16 cookies
Printable Recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips
1 package Oreo Cookies (regular or double stuff)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in 3 additions until just combined, then stir in chocolate chips. Using a cookie scoop, take one scoop of cookie dough and place it on top of an Oreo in your palm. Take another scoop of dough and place it on the bottom of the Oreo. Seal the edges together by pressing and cupping in your hand until the Oreo is enclosed with dough.

3. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake 9-13 minutes or until they reach your preferred doneness. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Honey Sesame Rolls (Tahinli)

Every once in a while, I'll see a recipe on a food blog and won't be able to stop thinking about it until I make it. That was the case with these rolls. I thought about them constantly for 5 days until I finally broke down and made them. It's been so long since I've had the luxury of taking a several-hour chunk of time to bake something, and it felt so wonderful. Having some ridiculously delicious snacks after all that hard work felt pretty great too.



These rolls are not quite breakfast-y and not quite dessert-y, although they could pass for either. They're perfect for a mid-afternoon snack, or even as a substitute for a sandwich at lunchtime. I'm so grateful for this recipe for introducing me to my new favorite flavor combination, tahini (sesame paste) and honey. Tahini on its own feels like it's lacking something, but combined with honey it's more delicious than any other nut butter or spread I've ever had (except nutella, of course).

Fair warning: I'd recommend this recipe for intermediate or advanced bakers. The recipe itself is really straightforward and the dough comes together easily, but rolling and shaping the buns required some handiwork that I definitely couldn't have achieved as a beginner.

I've been doing a lot of research on Middle Eastern cooking and baking, and the more I see, the more I fall in love with the flavors and textures of the food around here. Expect to see a lot more of it coming out of the Playing House kitchen going forward!

p.s. I'm so excited for my upcoming 500th post and giveaway. Stay tuned, it will be happening sometime in the next week!

Honey Sesame Rolls (Tahinli)
Adapted from Desert Candy
Makes 12 rolls
Printable Recipe

Dough
3 1/2 cups flour, sifted
2 1/4 tsp (1 envelope, 7 gr) instant yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup olive oil
1 egg, beaten

Filling
1 cup tahini
1/2 cup honey

Glaze:
1 egg, beaten with 2 tsp water
sesame seeds

1. Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a bowl. In a small bowl combine the egg and oil. Heat the milk to warm (120 - 130F). Add the milk to the flour mixture, then work in the egg mixture with your hands to make a smooth, elastic and not sticky dough. This should take 1-2 minutes.

2. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes. It will not rise like other breads. While the dough is resting, combine tahini and honey in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Divide the dough into 12 pieces, lightly brush them with a bit of oil so they do not dry out and make it easy to roll. Let rest, covered, 15-20 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 325 F. Roll one ball of dough out into a long oval or rectangular shape. Roll it as far as it will stretch without breaking. It should be about 14-16 inches by about 6 inches (Amy's note: this is just an estimate, I didn't measure and it wasn't in the original recipe. Just thought a guideline would be helfpul.) Spread with a thin layer of the tahini mixture, leaving a border around the perimeter of the dough about 1/2 inch. The layer of tahini should be just thick enough to be opaque (you shouldn't be able to see the dough underneath) but don't use too much or it will ooze out.

6. Starting at the longest edge, roll up the dough into a rope. Gently twist the rope so it is spiraled. Roll up the rope to a form a coiled bun. Gently flatten the bun with the rolling pin or a firm press of your hand. Place on a greased or lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. (Amy's note: forming the buns took so long that I went ahead with Step 7 for the first 6 and formed the remaining 6 while the first batch was baking If you're slow like me that will save you some time).

7. Brush the rolls with the beaten egg wash, then sprinkle a few sesame seeds on top. Bake 25-30 minutes, until light brown.

Pasta Ponza

I'm big fan of vegetarian pasta dishes. Especially if they make liberal use of breadcrumbs (here, have some carbs with your carbs!) I've made a lot of easy vegetarian pasta recipes, and this is definitely one of my favorites. My take on a classic from Giada De Laurentiis, it isn't the quickest weeknight meal (I'd say it takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, including non-active roasting time), but it's really simple to put together.



The red and yellow tomatoes are the prime flavor source here; artichoke hearts and bread crumbs are supporting actors. The technique of roasting the veggies under breadcrumbs and then tossing them with the pasta was new to me. I'm excited to try it out with different veggies. If you're looking for simple, fresh flavors, Pasta Ponza is an excellent choice. For what it's worth, I found that the leftovers the following day were even tastier.

Pasta Ponza
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
Serves 4-6
Printable Recipe

Butter for greasing
2 cups (12 ounces) red cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 cups (12 ounces) yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup canned artichoke hearts, quartered
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/2 cup Italian-style seasoned breadcrumbs
1 pound rotini or other short pasta
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 ounces) Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

1. Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish.

2. Place the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the prepared baking dish. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the tomato mixture. Drizzle the top with olive oil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for 5 minutes.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.

4. Place the pasta in a large serving bowl. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the pasta. Add the cheese and toss well. Thin out the sauce with a little pasta water, if needed. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley (if using) and serve immediately.