Oatmeal cookie cupcakes with cinnamon-cream cheese filling and brown sugar frosting

First of all, I put it to you - did you know that you can make your own brown sugar?

No kidding! You can! And it's so easy - all you do is mix in a tablespoon of molasses for every cup of white sugar and stir it all in (I used my fingers, because I'm traditional that way...sort of sugary paleo, if you will), and there...brown sugar. You can make it as dark as you like depending on how much molasses you add in. Keep it in an airtight container and there..now you have no excuse not to bake because you don't have any brown sugar.

The original MO-lasses

Brown sugar! Homemade! Well, home...stirred...

So this isn't a summery cupcake. This is an "I am climbing the walls and have to bake something but need to use what I've got kind of cupcake." I keep receiving oatmeal. I don't know why. I don't really eat it. It's not that I dislike it, but I don't really eat breakfast anyway and most of the time I'm not willing to bother to make regular oatmeal, and I think that instant oatmeal is weird. If I'm going to have a hot grain for breakfast, it's going to be grits.

(I have those, too, but I hadn't really considered a grits cupcake until just this minute...anyway...)

So I have oatmeal, and I made brown sugar, and I have half a package of cream cheese left from the plum cupcakes, and, as you do, I think, "I can make oatmeal cookie cupcakes! With a cookie on the bottom! And a cream cheese (I don't have that much cream cheese)...filling! Right! And (ok the cream cheese is going in the filling and now I have a whole lot of brown sugar because I made four cups' worth)...brown sugar frosting! Brilliant!

And this is a cupcake, although it looks a bit like a muffin ("I am not a muffin!" declares the cupcake. I don't know why my cupcake sounds like Richard Nixon). It's not very sweet, which is a mercy, because holy mackerel, the frosting sure is! Do you like brown sugar fudge? If you do, this frosting is the ticket for you. For me, it's tooth-achingly sweet. I mean, it's good...I promise it's good. But I ate half a cupcake and I feel like a tightly-wound spring.

'Course, I'm not a sweets person. I'm a salty/cheesy person (as friends and family will attest). Once I stepped back from this cupcake for awhile, though, I had to admit that it's a good one. I like the crunchy bottom and the dense cake with the creamy filling, and yes, I do like the frosting. In moderation.

So get yourself an unsweetened beverage and pull up a chair, because I present...a very brown cupcake.

Brown on brown! Filled with brown! With a brown bottom!

~ Oatmeal Cookie Cupcakes ~

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~ Oatmeal Cookie Crust ~

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup regular oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Combine melted butter, flour, oats,and brown sugar in a small bowl. Put about a tablespoon of the oatmeal mixture into each lined muffin tin. Press down with your fingers to make an even crust on the bottom of each one. Bake for about 10 minutes until starting to brown. Let cool before filling with cupcake batter.

Before baking

After baking

~ for cupcakes ~

• 2 cups regular oats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• pinch of freshly-ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk

Combine oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in a food processor and run until the oatmeal has pretty much ground up, but you can still see some texture (about 30 seconds or so).
Cream the butter and sugars in a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, yogurt and milk and beat until fully incorporated.
Add in the oat/flour mixture and beat until all is just combined. This is going to be a thick, well-textured batter. Don't be scared.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean. Don't be concerned if the tops crack a little bit.
This will make between 21 and 24 cupcakes.

Sorta looks like oatmeal, doesn't it? The kind you'd get at a breakfast buffet...

~ Cinnamon - Cream Cheese Filling ~

• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk, if needed for consistency

Cream together butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add in salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and beat well. Add in powdered sugar and beat on low until well-combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add in milk if you want to thin out the mixture a bit - you want it to be thick, but not stiff (think of what you'd like to encounter in the middle of a cupcake).

After cupcakes have cooled, cut a cone-shaped piece out of the middle of each one, trimming the bottom of the cut bit so it forms a lid. Using teaspoon, scoop in a bit of the cinnamon filling into the cupcake's cavity and then top with the lid. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.

Cupcakes, stuffed.

 ~ Brown Sugar Frosting Recipe ~

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 -4 cups sifted powdered sugar

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add the brown sugar, and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to medium low, and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and return to a boil, stirring. Remove the pan from the heat and cool to lukewarm.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the salt and vanilla into the butter-brown sugar mixture. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until the mixture is thick enough to pipe onto the cupcakes.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe a bit of frosting onto each cupcake. There is no need to smother the cake with frosting - this frosting is SWEET. In fact, if I were making it just for myself, I would probably just spread it on. The cupcakes wouldn't be so pretty though.

As usual, store the cupcakes in the refrigerator until ready to serve, and let them come to room temperature if possible before serving.

Liam and Deirdre say, "Que Bueno!"

"I am not a muffin!"