Another One Bites the Dust

We don't have a whole lot of employee turnover here at the DOB. In the five years I've been here, only two people have actually quit (well technically three, but he was politely asked to resign).  Just recently, we had one examiner resign to go work for the Fed. Now, we have another leaving to work for a bank in Austin. We are all so sad to see him go - especially me, since for the last 4 1/2 months, or the last 7 bank examinations, we've worked side-by-side. I'm not going to lie, it's going to be a little strange not working with Brandon anymore. And as much as I roll my eyes and send disapproving looks his way for some of his red zone comments, I'm going to miss him!! So, while we savor our last moments with him at his last bank as a bank examiner this week, I thought it would only be fitting to bake some cupcakes! I found the recipe on my new time-suck Pinterest.  Sidenote: have you discovered the awesomeness that is Pinterest?? If not, browse the sight...I'd be surprised if you weren't hooked after 5 minutes. And if you'd like, I can send you an invite.  Anyway, back to the cupcakes: OREO CUPCAKES. 

That's right Oreo cupcakes. Oreos in the cupcakes and Oreos in the frosting. Can you dig it?  (Also fitting, as it was pointed out to me this morning by our  resident smart ass examiner - OREO in banking terms stands for Other Real Estate Owned...get it?). Anyway, here is the original recipe. I was feeling lazy running short on time, so I cheated and used a box white cake mix and just added Oreos to the batter.  And I didn't cut up whole Oreos like the recipe recommends, I just used the other half of the Oreo not used for the bottom of each cupcake. Also, for the frosting, I used a different recipe:

• 1 stick regular, salted butter, softened
• 1-8oz block of regular cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups (almost 1 pound) of powdered sugar

Then I just added some Oreo cookie crumbs to the frosting. I attempted to be fancy and pipe the frosting, but failed miserably (again), so I ended up just glopping it on each cupcake and spreading it around. It was 10:30 pm and I was in no mood to figure out piping. Maybe next time... Anyway, just FYI I used almost an entire package of Oreos for this. I think there might be like 3 cookies left in the package. Enjoy! And of course, we wish Brandon the best of luck in his future endeavors. Vaya con Dios, bro. Heh heh.