Late last Thursday evening, I was pondering a very serious question. I was trying to decide what I wanted to bake for my school’s staff breakfast, which was to occur the following morning. Several breakfast items crossed my mind, including scones, donuts and coffee cake. I promptly crossed each of those options off of my mental list, deciding that each pastry seemed more boring than the last. What I really wanted to make was cupcakes, but the logical side of my brain was fully aware that cupcakes are not breakfast food. The other part of my brain, that which has recently been taken over by all of the chemicals found in sugar, decided that cupcakes are in fact a breakfast food. Or at least, they could be.
It was easy to convince myself that cupcakes can be consumed for breakfast, but I realized that in order to convince my co-workers of the same, I would need to at least make them appear to be appropriate for the first meal of the day. That’s why these cupcakes are flavored with the taste of cinnamon coffee cake, frosted with cream-cheese icing, and topped with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Do you see how that works? Coffee cake, cream-cheese and cereal? Yup. These cupcakes are definitely meant for breakfast.
This recipe comes together quickly, and makes about 18 cupcakes. The flavor of cinnamon-sugar is interlaced throughout every bite, and the cereal topping provides an excellent crunch to an otherwise soft and spongy treat. Whether you are making these for your colleagues’ staff breakfast or for a family gathering, these Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes will be devoured no matter if the time on the clock reads 7 o’clock AM, or 7 o’clock at night.
Recipe
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups of milk (I used 2%)
Frosting
- 8 oz (1 bar) of cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup of salted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (more to taste, if necessary)
- 2-3 cups of powdered sugar
- 1 cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350º F and line 18 muffin cups with liners. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar for 1 minute until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time and add in the vanilla until well-combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add this mixture, and the milk, to the sugar-butter mixture, and mix together until just combined.
Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 18 minutes until golden brown (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Cool the cupcakes completely on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before frosting.
To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together well. Add the vanilla and cinnamon. Then, add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Add more powdered sugar if the frosting is too thin.
Put the frosting into a piping bag and pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes. Top each cupcake with 1-2 pieces of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.