Snickerdoodle cupcakes were recently mentioned by the now famous Sadie. I associate snickerdoodles with Christmas, with family, and with pure deliciousness. Thinking about how to translate my vision of a snickerdoodle cookie into cupcake form led me to come up with the idea of making a brown sugar cupcake, laced with cinnamon, topped with a brandy-spiked buttercream. To make it absolute perfection, I decided to top the frosting off with a cinnamon and sugar dusting. And, VOILA! The Spiked Snickerdoodle Cupcake is born.
Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Cupcakes (pretty much Gibbs’s recipe)
Makes about 1 dozen
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1 1/4 c. flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
5 tsp. cinnamon (more or less depending on how much you like cinnamon)
I feel like a broken record when I type out cupcake directions. Hopefully by now you have learned that a basic cupcake/cake recipe goes as follows: sugar/butter, add eggs, alternate wet and dry ingredients…end with dry!
If you have yet to grasp that concept, here are the instructions in both narrative and photo form!
Combine the butter with the brown and granulated sugar until smooth and fluffy.
Add the eggs, blending one at a time.
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a small bowl. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Always end with an addition of dry ingredients.
Mix in the vanilla and cinnamon. The cinnamon will change the color in a surprisingly drastic way!
Fill a lined or greased cupcake tin 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick or paring knife entered comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack while making the frosting!
Brandy-Spiked Buttercream Frosting
1/2 c. butter, room temperature
3 c. powdered sugar, sifted (approximately)
1 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. brandy (more of less to taste)
Cream the butter until soft. Slowly add the powdered sugar, about 3 cups, until you’ve reached a taste that you like. Mix in the milk and brandy. Adjust the consistency as needed. If you want MORE cinnamon flavor, add a bit into your frosting.
Pipe onto cupcakes. Top with a cinnamon/sugar mix, or use a zester and a cinnamon stick to get a fine dusting of cinnamon on each cupcake…that’s what I did. Enjoy!
What an idea!! Pinned to try this later. Thanks for sharing!
Deirdre
http://lauerland.wordpress.com/
Thanks so much! Check out the rest of the blog and let me know if there are any other flavors you’d like to see. We’re always looking for new ideas.
I’m going to make these for Holiday Happy Hour. Hope they turn out even half as good as when you make them :) Thanks for the recipe!