Gingersnap Crumble Cupcakes

I recently had a catering order for festive cupcakes, leaving it up to me to decide what flavors. The only exception was that Red Velvet Cupcakes had to be one of them. I absolutely love when my clients give me a chance to play around in the kitchen! For the order I decided to make her requested Red Velvet Cupcakes, Peppermint Chocolate Cupcakes, and these Gingersnap Crumble Cupcakes. The batter interestingly smelled of eggnog and surprisingly, the cupcake had a slight eggnog taste too. These cupcakes are a nice addition to any holiday dessert table...

To make these cupcakes, I turned to Martha Stewart's yellow butter cupcake recipe. I made the recipe as is with the addition of gingersnap cookie crumbs to swirl in. Gingersnap cookies have a distinct flavor and I noticed when I made the batter, it also gave off a wonderful eggnog aroma. It really felt like a holiday cupcake even before they hit the oven. To top these cupcakes, I made a simple cream cheese frosting and garnished with a gingersnap cookie half.

Gingersnap Crumble Cupcakes
recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

3 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookies crumbs*
9 ounces (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large eggs plus 3 large yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

*To make gingersnap cookie crumbs, process the cookies in a food processor to crumbs, enough to make 1 1/2 cups for the recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.