Golden Oreo Cupcakes

I was so excited to make this cupcake recipe!  I searched for the perfect recipe for over a week, and even decided to make it instead of the Roasted Banana Cupcake or the Bunny Cake.  I have to say.... I'm REALLY disappointed.  They were pretty darn dry.  First of all, I <3 Golden Oreos!  I love them even more than regular Oreos, so I thought these were going to be smack your momma GOOD.  Boy was I mistaken.  The 52 Cupcakes blog I got the recipe from trumped it up by saying "Have you had one? OMG! I mean you really cannot eat one...just one!".  I thought wow I really need to try this!  You should have seen the pictures.  My mouth has been watering for days!  I think one of the issues is that our oven isn't cooking evenly.  I had the same problem with my Coconut Cupcakes, but they weren't quite THIS dry.  The recipe said to bake 20-25 minutes, however at 20 minutes mine weren't even cooked on top, so I put them back in for another 5 minutes.  When I took them out I noticed the tops were flat.  I am assuming this is because the recipe didn't call for baking soda or baking powder, but had self rising flower instead.  I guess I'm going to have to do some experimenting with a cake mix, and try and figure out the perfect baking time for cupcakes in MY oven.  The other problem was the Oreo in the bottom of the cupcake.  They were hard as a brick!  It had a somewhat ok flavor, but it seemed to be caramelized.  It was just weird.  I've seen it done in tons of other cupcakes.  Why did mine turn out like hockey pucks? lol I guess if you choke 'em down with some milk they'll be ok.  They look pretty though!  I guess you win some and lose some.  This recipe gets thumbs down.  Oh well... on to my next cupcaking adventure! **Update** I tried one the day after I made them, and the Oreo softened up a little bit.  The cupcake itself definitely had the Golden Oreo flavor, but it was too dry.  It's still not my favorite cupcake recipe, but I might try them again using a boxed cake mix and see how they turn out!