Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Snickerdoodle Frosting

Cupcakes: preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In bowl of your stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the shortening until light and fluffy (1-minute). Add sugar to the shortening and beat on medium speed until shortening and sugar mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to the sugar mixture, beating each egg into the mixture completely before adding the next egg. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the flour mixture and milk alternately to the sugar mixture, ending with the flour. Beat the mixture until just incorporated. Do not over mix!

Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans, filling liners approximately two-thirds full. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 18-minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and place on wire rack to cool.

Prepare topping: melt 1/4 cup butter in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and teaspoon of cinnamon. Using a pastry brush, brush the top of each cupcake with butter and immediately dip the top of the buttered cupcake into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place back on the wire rack to set.

Frosting: in the bowl of your stand mixer, use the paddle attachment to beat the butter until smooth and creamy (1-minute).

Slowly add the powdered sugar to the butter and mix on low until incorporated. Add the heavy whipping cream, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract to the mixer and mix on medium until combined, and then increase the speed to high and beat the frosting for 3-minutes. You can add more heavy whipping cream if needed for desired consistency.

Frost the cooled cupcakes by either piping the frosting on with a piping bag or spread it on with a knife. You can decorate these to fit your desired theme. See above for Snickerdoodle cookie recipe I used to top these with.

Store cupcakes in an air tight container at room temperature for 3 days.