Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

Cinnamon Cupcakes with a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cream Cheese Frosting

Well, along with the Vanilla Swirl Cupcakes, Nicci asked me to make some Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes for her graduation party.

They turned out pretty amazing, and I got lots of compliments on them. I am not too big of a fan of cream cheese icing, but this one was pretty exceptional.

I got the recipe from Your Cup of Cake. The recipe turned out pretty good, and from this blog, I have a bunch more recipes on my to-do list, especially since this one turned out so yummy! :)

Cinnamon Cake:

• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup sour cream (full-fat)
• Vanilla Cake Mix (I used Moist Supreme)
• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, gently combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla.
3. Mix in sour cream.
4. Add cake mix and cinnamon and mix until smooth.
5. Stir in lightly crushed cereal.
6. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Icing:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder (put cereal in food processor and measure out 2/3 cup of the fine powder)

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. 
2. Add Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder. 
3. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. 
4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares.

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Cupcakes

So, these are really muffins by everyone else's definition.... but I like the sound of breakfast cupcakes better!

I got a giant cupcake tin for Christmas, and because its usually impractical to make giant sweet cupcakes, I use it for muffins. It actually makes a really good sized muffin, not too small that you want more, and not too big that you can't finish it.

This is the second time I have made these...and my boyfriend LOVED them so much that the thought of trying a different muffin recipe is almost out of the question. 

Well, this weekend I am driving with my boyfriend and one of his 'car buddies' up to Hannibal, MO (about 1.5 hours drive) and decided to make us some muffins for breakfast before we leave. They are both have rally cars that they race, and his buddy is purchasing a used ambulance to tow his race car with.....yes, I said ambulance! It's the funniest thing, and I didn't even know you could buy old ambulances!

This time around, by request, I made the cubes of apples bigger, and it worked out well. These cupcakes make the house smell amazing!

I settled on this recipe from My Baking Addiction, after looking at dozens of recipes for apple muffins. I think what peaked my interest was the mini cinnamon chips, and they really work well with the apples. 

Apple Cinnamon Chip Muffins

(Makes 6 giant muffins)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups chopped apples (I used golden delicious, and needed 2 apples. I cut them into about 1/4 inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup miniature cinnamon chips

Topping

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray cooking spray in a 6 cup giant muffin tin. (or you could use a 12 cup standard muffin tin)
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. 
4. Mix in vanilla and applesauce. 
5. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. 
6. Fold in the cinnamon chips. 
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
8. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
9. Bake 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. (if you are making standard size, bake for about 20 mins)
10. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.
11. Wrap individually in plastic wrap after completely cool. Place in cute basket : )

Basket of Cupcakes!

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes with a Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream, Topped with a Little Gingerbread Man Cookie

So when my little brother (who is not so little at 6'5"), heard about my plan to make eggnog cupcakes for Christmas, he told me no one likes eggnog (soooo not true!) and that I should make something else.

Then he proceed to ask me why I had not made a second attempt at shipping him cupcakes (see my first attempt). As you can see from my first attempt, shipping cupcakes to Texas did not prove as easy as expected.

I did however, attempt to ship cupcakes a second time....they just didn't make it to the shipping part! I had this great idea of making Mountain Dew cupcakes, because what college freshman doesn't live on Mountain Dew and video games? But I ended up with just an OK cupcake with a blob of melted mountain dew frosting. I guess the carbonation from the soda destroyed the icing's ability to hold it shape and look pretty. Needless to say, I tried to forget this failed cupcake and did not blog about it, much less ship it!

Anyways....when I began listing off other Christmas themed cupcakes I could make, he settled reluctantly on gingerbread. Probably because all the others were just as bad as eggnog in his eyes.

Well, I am so glad I decided to make a second cupcake!

So here it is:

The Gingerbread Cupcake (from Tidy Mom)
Made 14 cupcakes.

• 1/2 cup canola oil 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup molasses 
• 1 egg, room temp and beaten 
• 1-1/2 cup flour 
• 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/2 cup boiling water 
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda 


1. Preheat oven to 350° and line muffin tins with baking cups.

2. In mixing bowl, using whisk attachment, combine oil, sugar, and molasses; then add beaten egg until well mixed.

3. In a medium bowl whisk flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Whisk into molasses mixture until well combined.

4. Boil water and remove from heat. Add baking soda and whisk into batter.

5. Fill baking cups 2/3 full and bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Set aside to cool.

6. Top with brown sugar butter cream. Garnish with gingerbread man cookie.

The Cinnamon Brown Sugar Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter (softened) 
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
• 1 pinch of salt 
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 3 cups powdered sugar 
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk butter and shortening until fluffy. Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon. 
2. Continue mixing until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Until you have a very thick gooey mixture. 
3. On the highest speed of your mixer, stream in the heavy whipping cream pouring nice and slow until desired consistency. 

The Little Gingerbread Man  (from food for my family)
This makes A LOT of dough, I halved it and still had twice as much as I needed!

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup molasses

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream together brown sugar and butter in a stand mixer for 2 minutes. 
3. Add in eggs and molasses and stir until combined. 
4. Mix in flour and spices and mix until a soft dough forms and the dry ingredients are incorporated. 
5. Split the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
6. Lightly flour a flat surface. Roll out gingerbread dough and cut into shapes and then place on a baking sheet. 
7. Preheat oven to 350º F and chill the dough on the baking sheet while the oven preheats. 
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges just start to brown. Allow to cool completely. 

I have to say these were AMAZING! I wish I made more of them! The cinnamon brown sugar frosting complimented the gingerbread perfectly!