Creme Brulee Cupcakes
For Hubby’s birthday, I told him I’d make a treat for him to take in to work. As I’ve mentioned before, his favorite dessert is creme brulee. I’ve made it twice for him already. But, creme brulee doesn’t travel to work very well. So instead, I gave him a list of 10 desserts that are at the top of my must-bake list.
When I added this recipe as the last option for him, I knew there was no point in even giving him the list. Sure enough, he chose his favorite dessert in cupcake form for his birthday treat.
I have to admit that I’m very glad he chose this recipe, because it’s amazing. The cupcakes really do taste like creme brulee. I made the cupcakes and frosting the night before his birthday and then we torched them in the morning before heading to work. Hubby said they only lasted about 10 minutes in the kitchen at work.
The other great thing about these cupcakes is that I found my new favorite way to frost a cupcake. I just loved how the cupcakes looked with a good portion of the cake peaking out, but there still being plenty of frosting. I decided at that point that I will be frosting cupcakes like this again (as I did for my Red Velvet cupcakes).
As a side note, for those of you who know, Hubby’s birthday is in February. This post is going up in April. I tend to do this unless there is a deadline for a blogging event. When I make something to be blogged, I add the pictures, recipe and link to the original source, then save it as a draft. Then on some random day, I go back and finish up the post and set it to publish at some point in the future. So on an evening like tonight, I can bust out about 10 posts while Hubby plays video games with his buddy. Then if I don’t have time to write blog posts for another month, it’s ok.
Creme Brulee Cupcakes – Adapted from Clara, originally from How to Eat a Cupcake
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the egg whites
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk – I used 1/4 c water + 3/4 c heavy cream
3 tablespoons caramel syrup – I used Smuckers ice cream topping
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk.
Add caramel syrup and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold whites into batter.
Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.
Brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream
1 cup light brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total.
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.
To assemble cupcakes
Remove center of cupcake using the cone method. Fill cupcake with buttercream. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and caramelize with creme brulee torch.
I’m entering this in Joelen’s Tasty Tools event for April. She’s featuring muffin pans this month!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Thank you for the nice recipe. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your family.
Oh yum, I adore thick chewy oatmeal cookies 🙂 these look like perfection!
“2 dozen large cookies” my butt! i followed this recipe and got 16 cookies the size of my 17 month old’s fist 🙁 they’re kinda bland, not a big fan. i’ve had much better!
beantownbaker — May 12th, 2014 @ 4:56 pm
Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this recipe 🙁
Making my second batch of these delicious cookies. The best Oatmeal/Raisin cookie recipe I’ve tried. Thank you!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:06 pm
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
These were fantastic. I only got about ten cookies from the batch so I made sure to double it the next time. Everyone loved them. 🙂
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:08 pm
Glad you liked these 🙂 I have updated the recipe to reflect the yield change.
The cookies were thick, moist and chewy. This is an awesome recipe! Definitely doubling the recipe and adding some m&m’s next time. My family loved them, thanks!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
Adding M&Ms is a great idea! I’m going to have to do that next time myself.
Just made my 4th batch! And I must say, I’m a great big fan of oatmeal raisin cookies and these were perfection!!! Thank you so much for sharing!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:29 pm
Wow, 4 batches! That’s awesome. Glad you have enjoyed them.
While it only yielded 17 cookies for me, they were chewy and yummy! Will be baking more soon! 🙂
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:29 pm
So glad you enjoyed them.
Thank you for the recipe!
I bake your cookies for our homeless clients at our “lunch club”. I can honestly say that a batch of 24 disappears within 5 – 7 minutes flat. 😉
Definitely the best oatmeal cookie recipe I’ve ever tried.
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:31 pm
So glad these are a hit for you!
Made these last night. Still chewy in a ziploc today. These are the biggest, softest homemade cookies oatmeal cookies ever. I doubled and got 28 fist size cookies. I like mine with extra flavor, so I doubled the cinnamon and vanilla and added a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice. I also substituted dried cherries for raisins Delicious and a smidge tart. If you want your family and friends to question whether you actually made these or bought them in a bakery, this is the recipe for you!! Thanks beantownbaker!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:32 pm
So glad you enjoyed these cookies!
I loved this recipe. If they didn’t turn out well, you didn’t do it right! However, the measurements only made 8 large cookies. But they were chewy and delicious so I’m just going to try doubling the mixture 🙂
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:32 pm
So glad you enjoyed it. I’ve updated the yield in the recipe.
Three words: Yum, yum, yum! I’m not a fan of oatmeal raisin cookies, but I made them because my boyfriend likes them. I’ve been converted! Thanks for the recipe.
I am always looking for different oatmeal raisin cookie recipes and really enjoyed this one! My husband said yummmy too while eating them. I will definitely save this recipe for future use. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Just made a double batch of these. They TASTE amazing, but are flat as pancakes. Does anyone know what I’ve done wrong??
Followed the recipe and While these tasted great they came out a lil dry not too sure why ??? I will try again
How many calories per cookie?
Can I substitute the flour for self raising flour?
I got 9 perfectly huge cookies. Delicious and hearty using whole rolled oats. I think this time I’ll plump the raisins in some vanilla rum.
Oh my god I think I may have died and gone to cookie heaven…
I made these tonight and they are hands down the BEST cookies I think I have EVER tasted. EVER.
Just in case anyone is interested I made a few adjustments for food allergies…
Replaced the egg for 1/4 cup unsweetened Apple sauce
Subbed the all purpose flour for the same amount of cassava flour… I think tapioca could work too.
I also only had half the amount of unsalted butter as I ran out so I made the rest of the measure up with lard.
Thanks for the incredible recipe – I’ll definitely make these again…and again…
Do you know how many grams one cookie would be?
Been baking your cookies now for a few months….love them!
Make a version using ‘fake butter and fake br sugar’ and nobody knows the difference!!
Wow, these are the BEST oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had, and I bake a lot. I can taste a little baking soda, but it’s a great recipe. I plan to lessen the baking soda next time. I am so happy I found this recipe, because my other recipe from a cook book was not even edible. I will be making more oatmeal raisin cookies for now on. THANKS.
Listen people. This recipe is the one for you. My cookies turned out to be effing amazing, do you hear me? Of course you don’t. This isn’t audio. DO YOU SEE THESE WORDS? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THEM? These cookies were so good. The recipe made 11 med-large cookies in total for me. And guess what? I ate 8 of those in the span of 12 hours. Needless to say I paid for it, but it was worth it. These cookies are amazing. They held consistency. They were thick yet cooked all the way, and still chewy…. Just. Heaven in my mouth. Hallelujah. Amen.
Hi, looking at the recipe. What happened no baking powder? Why?
Great!
Loved these!! Oatmeal are my favorite and THESE were the best I’ve ever had! I’m wondering if there’d be a way to incorporate pumpkin into these? …and maybe replace raisins with choc chips? Thoughts?
I goofed and thought I had raisins when I didn’t, and didn’t have quite enough brown sugar. So, I made them with dried cranberries and substituted a bit of white sugar to make up for the brown sugar. They spread out more than what is pictured, but baked up beautiful and tasted wonderful. Can’t wait to make them the “right” way, but it all worked out! Thank you for sharing!
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Oatmeal is a very wonderful food to me. I love using it for my breakfast. Your recipe sounds so delicious. I’ll try this. Thank you for sharing.
My husband always talks about how much he loves oatmeal raisin cookies. After five years, I have finally made them… I found this recipe, and needles to say, I will NEVER use another recipe. He has eaten oatmeal raisin cookies all over the world, and loves these best… Your recipe, with all my love thrown into them, how can I go wrong. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipes
just made these after following recipe to the letter.. all I am saying is what a waste of ingredients. not using this site/blog again.
I make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies all the time. I love these cookies. I have made them as written and with extra dark chocolate chips and cranberries. Really good both ways. I keep frozen cookie dough in my freezer and make 2 at a time for a quick snack or dessert. I use an ice cream scoop to scoop out, put in my lock and lock containers and freeze. I haven’t bought store bought cookies for years.
Thank you for this great recipe.
Hello,
Can I make cookie bars with these? Will the cooking time be different?
thank you
Just about to make my second batch of these in two days – amazing 🙂
These are wonderful cookies! I make two dozen at a time and only use 1 1/2 stick of butter and a little less of the brown sugar than called for. I add two heaping cups of raisins and they are super delicious!
I tried these after trying different recipe’s,i have to say these is the best I have ever had,soon as I made them they have done,only a empty plate left,i have to make them twice a week,i don’t it them in the fridge for a hour,i just make them into a small ball and,press gentle on top and cook them on my silicone mat,love them,i also but a bit of melted chocolate on top of some of them.
Tried this recipe twice, both times were a hit. I was concerned about the 2/3 cups light brown sugar, but they actually taste good, for a less blander cookie I would a add more sugar according to taste preference.
I adore these cookies…and so does everyone I’ve shared them with! Over the years, I’ve tried variations and come up with a couple changes that work for me. I use Vietnamese Cinnamon and extra strength Mexican vanilla, and I double the amount. Voila – perfect for me!