Tag: cinnamon

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (AKA the best cupcakes you will ever eat)

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Guys. I made the most delicious cupcakes in the entire world and want everyone to make them and eat them and love them as much as I did.

Last winter, Sprinkles in Washington, DC offered different cereal-based cupcakes and I tried the Cinnamon Toast Crunch one and fell head over heels in love with it. Sadly, these were only weekly specials and were discontinued. So I looked up recipes online for an attempt to recreate the magic of these cupcakes and came upon a recipe that tasted even better. I made these for my boyfriend’s birthday in August and even though he always claims he “isn’t a dessert person” – a phrase that I will simply never understand – he ended up loving them too!

The recipe I used was adapted from here and I followed the recipe very closely. I don’t even mind that they aren’t entirely made from scratch (it requires boxed cake mix), but I’m sure you could improvise if you know a recipe for a standard cake you like to make!

One thing I was surprised about and had never considered was dipping the top of the cupcake (before frosted) into butter then cinnamon sugar. This was seriously a game changer and gives these cupcakes a churro-like taste as well. It can’t be beat!

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Ingredients for 24 Cupcakes

  • 1 box, French Vanilla Cake Mix
  • 1 small box (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

  • 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
  • 8 oz (1 block) cream cheese, softened
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, for garnish

Baking Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 24 muffin tins.
  2. In the bowl of your mixer, combine cake mix, pudding mix, milk, vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, and cinnamon. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to high. Beat for 2 minutes.
  3. Stir a few times with a big wooden spoon, then fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 of the way full.
  4. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched in the center. Remove from oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
  5. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. In another bowl, add the 4 tablespoons of melted butter.
  6. Dip the top of a baked cupcake in the melted butter, then dip into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Set aside remaining cinnamon sugar for topping.
  7. For the icing, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla and heavy cream, beating on medium speed until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully add powdered sugar until just barely combined. Increase mixer speed to high and beat for two minutes.
  8. Generously frost cupcakes. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and stick cereal into frosting as you wish.
  9. Keep these cupcakes refrigerated if they are not served immediately.
  10. Enjoy these amazing cereal cupcake creations!

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Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast

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FT 8

In case it’s not completely obvious, strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit. And I happen to also love eating sweet, dessert-like brunch food! This recipe was actually adapted from a foodie Facebook video that a family member of mine had shared. My mother showed it to me and we knew we had to make it the next morning…with our own adjustments of course! It ended up being the perfect meal to start off our Memorial Day Weekend before going hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Ingredients:

10 Slices of Brioche Bread (to make five French Toast “Sandwiches”)

3/4 Cup of Chopped Strawberries (or any fruit you prefer!)

4 Large Eggs

3/4 Cup of Milk

1/2 Tsp of Cinnamon

Filling:

1 Package of softened Cream Cheese

1/3 Cup of White Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

(Optional) 1 Egg

Sugar Coating:

1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons of White Sugar

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

  1. Heat a large skillet or pan on medium heat.
  2. To make the French Toast Egg mixture, beat the 4 eggs together, then add the milk and cinnamon and stir until fully blended. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract until fully blended. I recommend using an electric beater for this part. Set aside.
  4. Mix the brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside
  5. Add butter to the heated pan and dip one side of every piece of French Toast in the egg/milk mixture and place the dipped sides down onto the pan. Let cook for 2-3 minutes until the sides facing down start browning slightly, then take them off the pan and set on a plate.
  6. After removed from heat onto the plate, spread a coat of the cream cheese mixture onto the cooked sides of every bread slice.
  7. Next, layer 5 of the 10 slices with strawberries then use the other 5 slices as tops to the open face sandwiches. You will essentially have 5 French Toast sandwiches.
  8. Butter the pan again.
  9. Carefully submerge each entire sandwich one at a time into the egg mixture then, coat by dipping them into the sugar mixture before placing immediately onto the hot pan.
  10. Cook for 3-4 minutes depending on how well-done you like your French Toast then flip the sandwiches to the other side and do the same until they are cooked to your liking.
  11. Remove the sandwiches from the heat and top with powdered sugar or syrup or other fruits!

FT 5

Jasberry Rice Pudding with Coconut and Honey Banana Slices

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By Natalie Anne ❤

I woke up this morning with the sun streaming into my apartment after what seemed like a never-ending row of days with rainy and cloudy weather. I had a hair appointment at a new salon I was kinda nervous about…But once I got my hair cut and colored, I knew I finally met my hair guru/stylist soulmate. When I got back to my apartment with a new cut and fresh attitude, I knew it was time to try Try the World‘s Jasberry Rice Pudding recipe from their Thailand Box. I wanted to add a side of fruit to it, so I found a recipe for fried bananas and incorporated that into the dish.

I followed the Try the World recipe except I added a spoonful of white sugar to the brown sugar and a little bit of their coconut flower syrup to the pudding as well as a few drops of vanilla extract after I removed the pudding from heat at the end.

Ingredients:

  • ⅔ cup Jasberry rice
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 13.7 oz. can coconut milk, stirred
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • Fruit (optional), for garnish

Rice pudding 2

Directions:

1. Bring the rice, salt, and 3½ cups water to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and let simmer 35 minutes.

2. Strain, then return the rice the pot. Stir in 1½ cups coconut milk and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce and let simmer, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes.

3. Let cool. Transfer to 4 bowls, add the remaining coconut milk, and garnish with fruit.

Fried Bananas in Coconut Oil topped with Honey and Cinnamon (recipe borrowed from PaleoLeap

Ingredients:

1 sliced banana

2 Tbsp. Honey

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

Directions:

  1. Combine the honey with ¼ cup of warm water and mix well.
  2. Heat the coconut oil in a skillet placed over medium-high heat.
  3. Add the banana slices to the skillet and fry for 2 minutes on each side.
  4. Remove the skillet from the heat and pour the honey mixture on top.
  5. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

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Bon Appetit!