Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Snicker. Doodle. Cup. Cakes. Am I kidding you right now?! I assure you I am not. Good 'ole Martha always coming through with the great recipes.

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart.

SNICKERDOODLE CUPCAKES

Makes 28

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, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe frosting on each cupcake: Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar.

Like this:

Which is more strange: the fact that I sometimes bake in my PJ's or the fact that I still own a shirt with The Crow on it? Oh and I got that teeny tiny sieve at a shop in Little Tokyo. It was about a dollar or two.

Now, Martha's got a 7 Minute frosting listed on her site to go with these cupcakes. The recipe calls for six egg whites. Eating raw or partially cooked eggs causes me anxiety so I used this frosting recipe instead (which seems a much better pairing anyway):

CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and cinnamon, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Martha says that the cupcakes are best served and eaten the same day they're made but I don't know how that would pose a problem for anyone.

Hooray! Your cupcakes are done. They don't really need any extra decoration other than the cinnamon sugar dusted on top. Unless you have a spare batch of Snickerdoodle Blondies lying around.

Oh you do? Perfect.

Just one more thing... There was a lot of icing left over and quite a few Snickerdoodle Blondies too. Well... waste not, want not.