Sweet Retreat from Midterms

Halloween could not come at a better time of year for college students. By the end of October, midterms are finally winding down and students everywhere are ready to throw their books out the window, let the right side of the brain kick in and party with the Lady Gagas, Pauly Ds and witches of the night.

While we’re waiting for this glorious evening to relieve us from midterms, a little sweet treat procrastination is definitely called for. Read on to find out how to sabotage your evening of studies and make these Halloween Cinnamon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. You may not remember every last one of your notes for your exam, but your friends will love you!

Recipe yields 12 regular-sized cupcakes and enough frosting to frost, decorate and  eat with a spoon when you go back to studying.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups cake flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ cup milk (whole milk is best)

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup butter (1 stick)

¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

2 eggs

Directions:

1. If you remember to, take out all the ingredients a couple hours before you begin. Having your butter, eggs and milk at room temperature will give you a better result.

2. Preheat your oven to 325?.

3. Put your flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk together, set aside.

4. Using a stand mixer, hand mixer, or your super strong arm, beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy.

5. Add the sugar and beat for about another 4-5 minutes so the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy.

6. Add the eggs one at a time and mix for about 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the vanilla and beat a bit more.

7. Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively: flour, milk, flour, milk, flour. Be sure to only mix until each addition is just incorporated. Over mixing will give you tough cupcakes.

8. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners, or grease them well. Fill each about ½ way full.

9. Bake the cupcakes 18-20 minutes, rotating them half way through. They are finished when you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma. Find more of their recipes here.

Make the frosting while the cupcakes cool:

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese (I tried the whipped cream cheese this time instead of the regular and liked the texture more, but any kind will work)

4 oz butter

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Just like with the cake, pull out your ingredients ahead of time so they come to room temperature before you begin. You will be glad you did this, especially if you make the frosting with your muscle power.

2. Beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, then mix in the vanilla.

3. Gradually add the powdered sugar (unless you want to clean up a white dusty kitchen afterwards) and mix until smooth.

4. Taste test: If this is too sweet for your taste buds, add a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly.

Decorating:

Get creative here; the only rule is to wait to decorate the cupcakes once they are completely cool. You can use food coloring to make different colors of frosting, buy Halloween sprinkles, Halloween candy, spider rings, anything you want.

I divided my frosting into 4 separate bowls, then left one white and colored the others with orange, purple and black. Then I frosted the cupcakes, sprinkled them, added candy corn and used the black for spider webs, jack-o-lanterns and ghosts. To do this, either fill a piping bag with a small round tip, or fill a plastic sandwich bag and snip off the tip and pipe away.

Good luck on your exams, and more importantly Happy Halloween!