Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I was out Saturday night with Heay's to go see her friends band play - and somehow by the end of the night I had turned into the bands pastry chef.  And when I was asking everyone what they liked, it turned out there was a Snickerdoodle lover in the band.  My first thought was these cupcakes (from my Martha Stewart Cupcakes) since I had a ton of egg whites sitting in my fridge from making pastry cream.  If you love Snickerdoodles, then these cupcakes are for you!  They taste exactly like the cookie, but in cupcake form with a marshmallow topping.  They are really tasty.  And if you are adventurous, you could make this in a cake.  And after my catastrophe Monday, I really needed something easy to make that I knew wouldn't give me any trouble. 

hello there

The batter is extremely easy - the hardest part about the whole recipe is the frosting.  Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, it's frosting time.  This is a marshmallow frosting - my suggestion is to skip the pastry bag.  It's extremely sticky.  The best thing to use is a gallon ziplock bag.  Put all of the frosting in there and snip a corner of the bag and squeeze away.  This one is easy to pipe.  All you have to do is squeeze and then lift up to get the peaks on them.  Personally, I find this part fun.  Once they are all piped, sprinkle with some cinnamon-sugar and you are good to go! 

Tuesday is "treat day" for some of my taste testers, so I go to my regular drop offs and added a new one (which I'm excited about).  I get to my last stop and I was a little later than I usually am, and I find out that everyone has been asking one of the bar tenders if I had been in yet.  He kept telling them no I hadn't made it in yet.  They were excited to see me when I walked in.  Learning this made me flash back to my days at massage school and having grown men follow my friends and I around if I had tupperware full of treats - it made me giggle that's for sure.  I didn't realize that so many of them are fans there. 

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

makes 28

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon, plus 1/2 tsp for dusting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

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

4 large eggs, room temp

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

Seven Minute Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt and 1 tbsp cinnamon.
2. 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.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quaters 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. 
4. To finish, combine remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tbsp sugar.  Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe frosting on each cupcake: Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above the top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak.  Using a small, fine seive, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar.  Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Seven Minute Frosting

makes about 8 cups

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp sugar

2/3 cup water

2 tbsp light corn syrup

6 large egg whites, room temperature

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.  Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees F.
2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  With mixer running, add remaining 2 tbsp sugar, beating to combine.
3. As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat.  With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream.  Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes.  Use immediately.