Jared's piece of heaven!

 Jared's birthday isn't for another week but we will be out of town.  The kids and I wanted to surprise him at school with these yummy cupcakes to enjoy with his buddies.
Jared's 2 favorite treats are Oreo's and Reese's peanut butter cups so when I found these on The Sweet Life I knew it was the perfect birthday treat for him.

 I changed a couple things from her recipe just to simplify.  I used this cake mix recipe(new favorite chocolate cake recipe) instead of doing homemade.
Chocolate Buttermilk cake
1 box devil's food cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines)
3 TBSP cocoa powder
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Combine and mix for 2 minutes.
Put about 1 TBSP of cake batter to the bottom of a cupcake liner. The original recipe says to place the cookie on the bottom with no batter but my first batch burnt the cookie so adding the batter really helped.  Add 1 Oreo cookie on top of the batter. Then add a mini Reese's peanut butter cup on top of the cookie.  Add enough batter to cover the PB cup which should be 2/3 full. Bake 325 for about 17 minutes or until cake is done.

• Oreo Peanut Butter Buttercream
  Ingredients
  
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons milk
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 tablespoons oreo cookie crumbs
  Directions
  
  1. Separate ~8 oreo cookies and discard the cream filling.  In a food processor or plastic bag, crush the cookies into fine crumbs.
  2. In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening on high until fully combined.  Beat in peanut butter.
  3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 2 cups of the confectioner’s sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and a pinch of salt.  Start the mixer on slow, then eventually crank it up to high and beat for 2 minutes.  Add more confectioner’s sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until you reach your desired consistency (more sugar = thicker buttercream).
  4. Add the cookie crumbs and beat on high for 2 minutes.
  

I had to pry this out of my son's hand to get a pic, hope this doesn't gross you out.
* Sorry for the bad pics.  I almost forgot to take them, thank goodness for phones these days!!