Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Hello everyone!!! I'm so sorry that it's been a couple weeks since I last posted. I'm back though! After baking the Peanut Butter Pie for Mikey, my mind started to wonder what I'd make next. I knew whatever I made next would be the last thing I baked that my husband would get to try for a while. I had a couple of things that I debated between but in the end, I chose to do snickerdoodle cupcakes. Chris tried his first snickerdoodle not too long ago and absolutley loved them! I figured I'd try out a snickerdoodle cupcake for him. We luckily got to celebrate his birthday together, so it turned into his birthday cupcake! He now can't figure out which one he likes better--the salted caramel cupcake or the snickerdoodle cupcake! It actually tasted like a snickerdoodle and at the same time tasted like cinnamon toast crunch. He wanted to put the cupcake in a bowl and pour milk on top of it for breakfast, that's how good he thought it was! The entire process of making this, I thought in my head, "this isn't going to taste good at all...I just can't see this tasting good." I was wrong! If you have a snickerdoodle recipe for the cookie that you already like, I'd go ahead and use that one and just roll the balls smaller. I used the recipe that came with the cupcake recipe and it wasn't my absolute favorite--but it worked. I tweaked some of the recipe from the original and it worked out perfect! If you decide to make this, I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

Snickerdoodle Cookies
*1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/4 cup shortening
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 egg
Cinnamon-Sugar covering for cookies:* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 Tablespoon cinnamon


Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs, room temperature
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 3/4 cup milk, room temperature


Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting:

* 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

* 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

* 3 -4 tablespoons milk 

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.


3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

4. In a mixer, cream butter, shortening, and sugar on medium for about 2 minutes.

5. Add egg and mix until combined.


6. Add the flour mixture and beat until combined.


7. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.

8. Form dough into small, round balls and roll into cinnamon sugar.

9. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies begin to crack. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

Cupcake Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


2. Line regular and miniature cupcake trays with paper liners.


3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside.


4. In a mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium for about 2 minutes.


5. Add eggs, one at a time and mix until combined.


6/ Add vanilla and mix until combined.


7. Add flour mixture to creamed butter and sugar in three additions. Alternate with milk in two additions.


8. Fill baking cups about 3/4 full.

9. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.


10. Remove cupcakes from trays and let cool.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting Directions:

Directions:

1. Place butter in large bowl.
2. Beat on low 30 seconds.
3. Add sugar about a cup at a time, beating on low between each addition.
4. Add 3 tablespoons milk, vanilla and cinnamon.
5. Beat on medium 1 minute.
6. Blend in up to 1 tablespoons of milk if frosting is too thick.

Here was the finished product:

*adapted from Bakerella, Food.com

Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake

I love a good breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The problem is, I don't ever want to get up in the morning to make that breakfast. Growing up, my mom would make cinnamon rolls every Sunday morning. The big, gooey cinnamon rolls are my favorite. If you love cinnamon rolls and cheesecake--this recipe is for you! I've made it three times now and it gets better each time. It's a perfect mixture of a cinnamon roll with cheesecake. Who would've thought this would ever be possible?!

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Roll Batter:
* 2/3 cup white sugar
* ¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 egg, room temp
* ½ cup whole milk, room temp
* 1 TBSP vanilla extract
* 2 cups flour
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt

Cheesecake filling:

* 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 TBSP vanilla extract
* 2 TBSP flour
* 3 eggs, room temp

Cinnamon Filling:

* 1/3 cup butter, melted
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 3 TBSP cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:
* 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
* 3 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 TBSP lemon juice
* 2 tsp vanilla
* 1 cup powdered sugar
* milk (if needed to thin frosting)

I totally forgot the tub of butter in this picture!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease a 9-inch Springform pan.

Cinnamon Roll Batter:
1. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or hand mixer) cream together the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

2. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat for another minute. Scrape down bowl.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine the sifted and creamed ingredients together. Mix on low speed until throughly combined.

4. Spread half of the batter onto the bottom of the Springform pan. It will be sticky and thick so spray your hands with baking spray and press down. It will be a thin layer, but trust me it will rise up during baking.

For the Cheesecake Filling:
1. Using a stand mixer (and a clean bowl) fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

3. Add the vanilla and flour and beat for another minute.

4. Pour all of the cheesecake batter on top of the cinnamon roll batter that is in the prepared pan


Cinnamon Filling:
1. In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

2. Drop spoonfuls of the cinnamon filling over the entire top of the cheesecake.

Final Process:

1. Take the rest of the base batter and drop spoonfuls over the entire top of cheesecake. Once finished, take a knife to swirl the ingredients together. This is hard to do as the batter is pretty thick, just do what you can. I found myself using my fingers and gently spread it apart.

2. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, cake will be puffy and lightly browned. Let chill for 20 minutes at room temperature and then cover and move to fridge for 4 hours. Remove cake and let it warm up to room temperature just a bit.

3. After four hours, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.


Cream Cheese Frosting:
1. Using a stand mixer (and a clean bowl) with paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together for 2 minutes.

2. Add remaining ingredients and beat until desired consistency is reached. If too thick, thin out with milk.

*courtesy of Peabody Concoctions

Hummingbird Cupcake

One of my favorite tv shows, if not my favorite, is DC Cupcakes. They are a big inspiration to me. After meeting them a month ago and talking with the for a bit, I love them even more!! They were on Martha Stewart promoting season 2 of DC Cupcakes and gave out their Hummingbird Cupcake recipe. I jumped on making it within a week of them giving it out and it is my favorite cupcake that I've made so far. You've gotta try it atleast once!!! Since this was made awhile ago, I don't have step-by-step instructions.

Ingredients:
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

* 1 cup granulated sugar

* 2 large eggs, room temperature

* 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (from about 3 large bananas)

* 1 tablespoon clover honey

* 1 cup chopped pecans

* 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained

* 1/4 cup hot water

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

* 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

* 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

3. Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add sugar, and cream together until well combined, 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating slowly after each addition. Add banana and honey and mix on low until well combined. Add pineapple; mix on low until combined. Add 1/2 cup pecans; mix on low until well combined.

5.With the mixer on low, slowly add one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the hot water. Repeat process twice, alternating flour mixture and hot water, and ending with hot water. Mix until just combined.

6.Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter. Transfer to oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 24 to 26 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cupcakes cool completely.

7. Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with your tip of choice. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and set aside.

8. Sprinkle cupcakes with remaining 1/2 cup pecans.