Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Hey JavaCupcakers!  Happy Snickerdoodle Week!  I’m here with the thing we do best … cupcakes! 🙂

I baked these for a student event at work and everyone loved them!  Something about snickerdoodles that brings out the happiness in folks 😉 I think it’s cause they’re sort of like Cinnamon Toast Crunch yum & yum.  I preferred the mini version of these Cupcakes, just because they were SOOOOO stinkin’ cute, but the regular cupcakes were fun too because they crackled a little bit at the top so they sort of looked like a snickerdoodle cookie!

Just an FYI, the Martha Stewart recipe I used from her Cupcakes book, calls for her 7-minute frosting.  I didn’t read super great things about the pair, so I decided to use a cream cheese frosting, topped off with a cinnamon/sugar sprinkling.  I loved it and so did everyone else.  If you decide to use the 7-minute frosting, please let me know what you think 🙂

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (Martha Stewart’s Cupcake Book)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk

Yield: 28 cupcakes (or 1 1/2 dozen regular & 1 dozen mini cupcakes)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium sized bowl, sift together both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. In a standing bowl mixer, with the paddle attachment, on medium-high cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl, as needed.  Beat in the vanilla.
5. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.
6. Mix until combined.
7. Evenly divide batter among cupcake liners, filling 2/3 way full.  Sprinkle cupcakes with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar (1 teaspoon cinnamon/2 tablespoons sugar).  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes (modify to about 10 minutes for mini cupcakes)  Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

*Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months in an airtight container.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 pound (4 cups) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.
3. Pipe with a large round tip.  Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture.
4. Frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before serving.