I’ve already told you guys about my love affair with cinnamon-bun-like things, so it was only a matter of time before I put that cinnamon love into cupcake form.

These cupcakes were inspired by the little girl in my class who comes in every morning and asks, “Melanie, guess what I had for breakfast today??” Every morning, I go through 85 guesses. Toast? Cereal? Green eggs and ham?

And every morning she finally yells at the top of her lungs, “CINNAMON BUNS!!!!!!!!” with more excitement than Christmas Day, a snow day, and a birthday combined. HUGE grin. Literally like it’s the best news of anyone’s life.

CINNAMON BUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YYYYEEESSSSSSSSS!

Though I seriously doubt this 4-year-old peanut eats cinnamon buns every day for breakfast, you gotta respect her joie de vivre. When it comes to cinnamon buns, she knows where it’s AT.

So I took all the best parts of a cinnamon bun (cinnamon+brown sugar+butter), added some fancy (pecans+maple) and baked them into a cupcake. And that cupcake is gooooood. The kind of good where you eat one and then come back for two more since cinnamon buns are a breakfast food and breakfast foods are healthy. Impaired judgement good.

You could also leave off the frosting and these would be NUMMY muffins.

Cinnamon Cupcakes (adapted from Hello, Cupcake!‘s vanilla cupcake recipe)

yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cinnamon swirl:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons maple sugar*

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 eggs
• maple buttercream (recipe below)
• 1 cup toasted chopped pecans

*I just happened to have this on hand. You can easily omit the maple sugar if you don’t have it.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with 24 paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, melt the 4 tablespoons butter in the microwave. Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, and maple sugar. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
4. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the 1/2 cup butter and sugar on high until fluffy. Scrape down the sides and add the eggs one a time, beating well after each addition.
5. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and the milk mixture alternatively in batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until almost combined, then gently fold in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Fold 8-10 times, so that you can still see large streaks of cinnamon sugar.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the liners, filling each about halfway. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on wire racks. Top with maple buttercream (below) and garnish with toasted pecans.

Maple Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on high until smooth. Reduce speed to medium and beat in maple syrup. Reduce speed to low and add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Beat in vanilla and milk; beat on medium for 1 minute or until frosting is fluffy and smooth.

I have a love/hate relationship with honey. Mostly I love to hate it, which is a direct result of the 7 gazillion peanut butter and honey sandwiches consumed in my elementary school years. I was one of those anti-lunch meat kids who would eat exclusively peanut butter/honey/jam/banana sandwich combos. Often with a side of frozen Snickers that I bought for $.55 from the lunchroom freezer. DO YOU REMEMBER THEM? Heaven. On. Earth.

I was also the kid that made an apartment for pencil-topper Trolls inside her desk and planned a Troll wedding with her friends and dyed the Trolls’ hair with purple highlighter. Theeee coolest.

In my adult years I’ve ditched the Trolls (or have I?) and decided to give honey another go. I created these cupcakes as a throwback to one of those great little-kid comfort foods: peanut butter-honey-banana sandwiches. Whattup fourth grade! In my opinion you can really never go wrong with a peanut butter & banana combo, but the honey addition kicks it up to a totally gourmet level. Am I on to something here? Childhood faves in cupcake form?

Next up: Grilled cheese & hotdog cupcakes.

Kidding!

Maybe.

Banana Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart)

yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt or sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups mashed (very ripe) bananas
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In small bowl, combine oil and yogurt. Add the oil mixture, bananas, eggs, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Gently fold to combine.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Top with peanut butter & honey buttercream.

Peanut Butter & Honey Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, and honey on medium high until smooth. Scrape down the sides and add the confectioners sugar; mix on low until combined. If the buttercream seems too thick, add 2-3 teaspoons of milk depending on desired consistency. Add the vanilla and pinch of salt; beat on high for 2 minutes or until fully combined. Spread on cooled banana cupcakes.

It’s no secret that I LOVE Sweet cupcakes and regularly stop by for a cupcake (or five) in the name of “research”. It’s my life goal to try every flavor.

[Lofty Goals by Melanie, Item #17]

When we were in Paris we went to a magical bakery supply store called G. Detou, where they had floor-to-ceiling walls of chocolate bars, food colorings and flavorings, and SO SUPER CHEAP vanilla beans.

I don’t know how many of you have purchased vanilla beans at the grocery store, but they cost more than liquid gold. So when I spotted a jar of FIFTY vanilla beans for 20 euros, I said tell me where to sign.

Sooo… now I have 50 48 vanilla beans burning a hole in my cupboards and decided it was high time I made Sweet’s vanilla bean cupcakes!

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t rub a vanilla bean on myself as “perfume”.

These cupcakes are perfectly fluffy and vanilla-y, with cute little specks of vanilla bean throughout. You could make them using just vanilla extract, but then you wouldn’t have the chance to wear vanilla bean perfume, and what fun is that?

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes (recipe from The Sweet Little Book of Cupcakes)

yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 2/3 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 12 muffin liners. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and add the egg; beat until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.
3. Scrape the seeds of 1/4 of a vanilla bean; add them to the milk. Add the milk mixture and flour mixture to the butter mixture alternatively in three steps, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on medium-low until smooth.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 liners; bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the butter and shortening on high until smooth and creamy. Scrape the seeds from 1/4 of a vanilla bean; add the seeds and the confectioners sugar to the butter mixture. Start the mixer on low until the sugar starts to incorporate, then beat on medium for about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla extract and beat on high 1-2 minutes, or until smooth and fluffy.