Another Birthday

A friend of mine at work celebrated one of those ‘betwixt’ birthdays this week. You know, one of those yawner numbers that’s not a ‘milestone’ or even HALF a milestone.

Anyway, he’s one of those people that didn’t get the chocolate gene. Coffee, either. Which is kind of a difficult thing for me to fathom. And it makes it more challenging to try to come up with a birthday-worthy dessert.

I know he likes Snickerdoodle cookies, so I searched around and found this recipe from good ol’ Martha. But because he also enjoys cheesecake, I thought I’d add a cream cheese frosting to the mix.

In retrospect, maybe I should have just made a Snickerdoodle Cheesecake. Maybe next year…

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 Tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk

In a small bowl (or on a sheet of waxed paper - my preferred method), sift together first 5 ingredients. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on high speed until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Turn speed down to medium low and add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Turn off mixer and add about half of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the milk. Turn mixer to low and mix until just blended. Add remaining dry ingredients, followed by the remainder of the milk. Mix at low speed until combined.

Line a cupcake tin with paper liners. Fill about 32 mini cupcakes or 14 regular sized cupcakes about ¾ full of the batter mixture. Place in oven and cook for 18 - 20 minutes, or just until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool. Frost with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below).

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Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese at room temperature
1 stick butter at room temperature
½ tsp cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Add cream cheese and butter to a mixer and beat at high speed until smooth. Lower speed to medium and mix in cinnamon and vanilla bean seeds (substitute 1 tsp vanilla extract if you aren’t using vanilla bean). Reduce speed to low and slowly add in powdered sugar a bit at a time, mixing until combined and frosting is smooth.

Refrigerate for about 15 minutes before frosting cupcakes, especially if using a pastry bag.