Oreo Cookie White Chocolate cupcakes w/ cocoa cream cheese icing

Yes it's a mouth full but it was oh so yummy!!
I made these for my God Mother when she came to visit. I enjoy baking, I'm not as good as I like to be but my wonderful family lets me use them as my guinea pigs haha and lets me practice. Practice makes perfect!!

I also got first place on my online moms site for them too, not to shabby ;=)

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
• Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows, or about 2 cups frosting of your choice
• Colorful sprinkles
• Equipment: A twelve 1/2-cup muffin pan
• Half cup of crushed up oreo cookies that I added to the mix at the end

Directions

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line the muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the sides of the bowl down with a rubber spatula.)
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla, and also set aside.
Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next.
Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next (scrape the bowl down occasionally). Raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl.
Thoroughly clean the bowl of the mixer and put the egg whites inside. Whip the egg whites on high speed, using the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks are formed.
Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the cups in the muffin pan. Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
Remove the cakes from the oven and cool completely.

Then I made a Cocoa cream cheese icing:
Icing:

• 8 ozs cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 C sifted powdered sugar (You can decrease this amount if you don't care about it being as stiff for piping)
• 1/2 C cocoa powder

1. Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
3. Mix in cocoa powder.

and I added an Oreo Cookie and crumbs on each for garnish.
Yum yum yum!!