Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

I don't like chocolate, so it is always awesome to find good desserts that I like, and my chocolate-loving friends will like too. These are definitely one of those recipes. These snickerdoodles are nothing short of amazing! Most of the snickerdoodle recipes I have seen online call for about a 1:1 ratio of butter and shorteneing. However, we don't really keep that much shortening around, so this recipe is all butter, no shortening. They came out so well that I doubt I will ever need another recipe!

Ingredients:

Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer, cream the butter for about 1 minute on low to medium-low speed.
3. Add the sugar on medium-low speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed. Set aside.
4. In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions, mixing with hand mixer. You may have to stir in the last addition by hand (the dough gets quite thick).
6. Mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon to make topping.
7. Take 1.5 - 2 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball (approximately 1 inch ball). Roll the ball in the cinnamon-sugar topping. Sprinkle extra cinnamon-sugar on top. Depending on how round and puffy you like your cookies, you can gently flatten the dough balls before putting them in the oven. I usually do this, but you can also flatten the cookies after baking for thicker cookies.
8. Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes.
9. If you did not flatten the cookies before baking, lightly press down on them with the back of a spoon or fork to slightly flatten them while they are still warm.
10. Cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

This recipe was modified from the recipe "Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles" at Sally's Baking Addiction (http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/05/19/soft-thick-snickerdoodles-in-20-minutes/).

Mini Cheesecakes (Cheesecake Cupcakes)

These cheesecake cupcakes were awesome. Very dense, just the way I think cheesecake is best. I brought these to a friend's house, and she already had some homemade strawberry sauce from earlier in the week, so we just put that on top. Next time, I will definitely do some sort of fruit sauce again, because these were so perfect! There's a recipe for strawberry sauce in the link to the original recipe, but I can't speak to how good it is. Might try it sometime, but I'd also be curious to try these with a raspberry sauce!

Ingredients:

1 cup finely crushed graham crackers (from ~8-9 sheets)
1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
4 Tbsp salted butter, melted
2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk)
Strawberry Sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix crushed graham crackers with 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar. Pour in melted butter and stir mixture until evenly mixed.
3. Divide this amongst 12 paper lined muffin cups. Press mixture with spoon to form an even layer.
4. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool while making the filling.
5. In a small mixing bowl, mix 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 Tbsp flour.
6. Put softened cream cheese in a separate mixing bowl and pour sugar/flour mixture over top. Blend mixture using an electric mixer on the lowest speed until smooth. You may need to knock down the beaters on your mixer a couple times.
7. Mix in eggs one at a time on low speed. Scrape sides down and mix until just combined after each addition.
8. Add vanilla, sour cream and heavy cream and mix just until just combined. Tap bowl against counter approximately 30 times; this will release some air bubbles.
9. Divide mixture into muffin cups, filling each until it is full. Bake in preheated oven 20 - 23 minutes. When they are done baking, their centers should still jiggle a little bit, but don't over-bake (they will crack if they’re almost over-baked).
10. Remove from oven and cool for 1 hour.  Store in an airtight container in refrigerator or freezer.
11. Just before serving, add the strawberry sauce to the top of the cheesecake. You can put the sauce on in advance, but it’s better if you wait until serving.

This recipe was adapted from "Cheesecake Cupcakes" at Cooking Classy (http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/04/cheesecake-cupcakes/).

Cinnamon Sugar Donut Mini Muffins

Donuts and donut holes are some of my favorite sweets, but I don't really want to deal with the whole frying process at home. These were great because they were baked, which made them quite easy to make. On top of that, they were absolutely delicious. 

Ingredients:

Muffins:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 24 mini-muffin cups.

2. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, and nutmeg in a large bowl. 

3. Add milk, stir to combine, and then mix in flour and baking powder until just combined. Do not over-mix.

4. Fill the mini muffin cups about half full.

5. Bake approximately 15-20 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden.

6. Melt 1/4 cup of melted butter in a bowl. 

7. In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. 

8. When muffins are done baking, dip each muffin in the melted butter, and roll in the cinnamon sugar. 

9. Allow to cool before serving.

This recipe was based on "Donut Muffins" from Allrecipes (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Donut-Muffins/Detail.aspx?evt19=1). I thought this original recipe called for a bit too much nutmeg, so I changed it above to reflect what I think is a more reasonable amount.