Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I've been in a baking mood, and now I finally have an excuse to bake something!  Tonight I'm going to a friend's house for dinner which is the perfect excuse to bake a dessert.  Then, we're having a tornado safety party since I live on the upper floor of my apartment and no one lives below me - my wonderful friend is giving me shelter so I am repaying her kindness in the form of cupcakes.

Snickerdoodle cookies are my absolute favorites, so when I found a snickerdoodle cupcake recipe I couldn't resist trying them out.  I used two different recipes for inspiration, one for the cupcakes and a different one for the frosting, and made very minor alterations to each.  They tasted fantastic - I highly recommend this recipe!

So for the cupcakes, I used the following ingredients:

Yes, the milk I used is coconut milk rather than normal milk.  I'm not a milk drinker, so I don't like to buy milk for baking only to throw away the leftovers.  However I make curry a lot, so I usually have coconut milk around the house.  You could barely taste the coconut in the cupcakes - it simply made them a tiny bit sweeter.  However, you could definitely substitute the coconut milk for regular milk, soy milk, almond milk...whatever you prefer.

I mixed all of the ingredients into the batter, then started pouring them into the cupcake liners.

While the cupcakes were baking, I started making the frosting.  I used:

The granulated sugar made it a little harder to get the fluffy frosting texture, so I added almost double the amount of half and half to make it less grainy.  If I had remembered to buy powdered sugar, it probably would've gotten a better texture with less half and half, so I recommend using powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.  Also, milk works well as a substitute for half and half.  The half and half only makes the icing a little richer.

I mixed all of the ingredients until I had the following texture...

...then piped the cupcakes using a super high-tech piping technique of a Ziplock baggie with the corner cut off.

And voila! Finished cupcakes :)

My decorating skills are sub-par at best, but I see it only as a sign that I need to make more cupcakes to practice on :)  They tasted absolutely delicious, so that's all that really matters in my opinion!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes:
(makes about 28 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1¾ cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1¼ cups coconut milk

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
• Whisk the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
• Add in the dry ingredients and the milk and mix well.  Alternating adding some dry ingredients with some milk helps it mix better.
• Fill each cupcake liner ¾ full of batter and bake for 18-20 minutes.
• Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Inspiration from: http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/11/12/snickerdoodle-cupcakes/

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients: 

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3¾ cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp half and half
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Blend butter until fluffy with hand mixer.
• Add sugar, 3 tbsp half and half, and vanilla extract. Blend lightly.  Add cinnamon and continue mixing until sugar is well incorporated.
• Keep adding half and half until frosting is fluffy and the desired texture.
• Pipe frost the cupcakes once they are cooled.
• Garnish with sprinkled cinnamon, if desired.

Inspiration from: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cake/snickerdoodle-cupcakes-w-cinnamon-buttercream-frosting.html