Fried {Birthday Cake} Oreos

This is the first year that I can remember where I will not be attending the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at least once. For anybody that doesn't know about Houston's big event, it's the largest rodeo in the world. It's a ton of fun from eating barbecue and every sort of fried junk food you can imagine, to a carnival, to actually watching a variety of rodeo events (like bull riding), and the night always ends with a big concert. A huge range of musical artists from country to rock come down to Houston to put on an enormous shows each night.

I always looked forward to the city's annual tradition. I was visiting Houston last February, so I went to the rodeo and decided I needed to try one of the ridiculous fried treats served there since that was something I had actually never experienced. The thought of frying treats never really appealed to me much. Frying is for fries and chicken, right? But I thought I'd give it a try at the rodeo in Texas since that isn't the sort of thing you see in Seattle. It was in the form of deep fried cookie dough, and it was pretty awesome. I had never tasted fried Oreos until we made them this weekend at home, but they are definitely one of the most famous fried treats you will see, and now I see why. The fried cookie dough was good, but there isn't a hugely distinct textural difference between the outside of the fried cookie dough and the inside. However with Oreos, the outside fried part gets a nice crispy texture while the cookie and icing in the middle gets soft and creates a nice contrast. There were distinct parts and flavors to the fried Oreo missing from the fried cookie dough.

What makes these fried Oreos even more special is that they are made with Birthday Cake Oreos (apparently they were so popular they are back no longer as a limited edition birthday Oreo celebration treat) and dipped in a Funfetti cake batter before frying. A few months ago, Dustin added fried Oreos to our list of desserts to make. While looking over that list, I remembered that in addition to bringing boxes of Girl Scout cookies home from Indiana, I brought an impulse-buy carton of Birthday Cake Oreos with me as well. At that moment, I knew we had to make fried Oreos with them.

I had the brilliant idea of making the frying batter with cake mix instead of the traditional pancake mix (Bisquick) to get even more cake flavors into these babies, but I was unsure how that might affect the texture. I ended up combining pancake mix with cake mix with great results, and next time (which there probably shouldn't be considering how bad these are for you) I definitely think I would go all the way and only use cake mix. I was a little worried how these might turn out. Frying still kinda scares me, and I thought these had the potential for disaster. But in the end, frying Oreos was a smashing success.

We also tried frying up some mini candy bars (leftover from Halloween still) with a little less success. The candy bars were an impulse fry, so we didn't let them sit in the freezer for very long. Consequently, we ended up with melted chocolate and indistinct globs of fried batter coating it. It made quite the mess, but it was still delicious. Definitely freeze your treats, especially candy bars, before frying.

Holy moly! Dust the warm and fresh from frying Oreos with powdered sugar, and you have perfect carnival/street food made at home. The hardest part is making sure you make enough for everyone to be satisfied, but not too many as to tempt you to overeat because you WILL want to. I guarantee everyone will be raving!

Fried {Birthday Cake} Oreos

~yields 20; recipe adapted from AllRecipes

<1/2 cup Biquick (I chose the Heart Smart mix-- no yucky trans-fats)
1/2 cup Funfetti cake mix
1 cup milk (I used low-fat)
1 egg
2 teaspoons canola oil
20 Birthday Cake Oreos
2 quarts neutral flavored oil with a high smoke point (like canola or peanut)
powdered sugar, for dusting

Place the Oreos in the freezer for an hour to help maintain the cookie's texture during frying.
Make the batter by mixing the Biquick, cake mix, milk, egg, and the 2 teaspoons of canola oil.
Heat the rest of the oil in a large pot to 370º.
Dip the Oreos in the batter and then place in the hot oil, making sure to not overcrowd the pot. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until the batter is golden. The longer you let them go, the crunchier the outside will be.
Generously dust the fried Oreos with powdered sugar. Allow to cool slightly, but serve while still warm.