Snickerdoodle cookies first pranced deliciously into my life when I started my college job at Borders. Being a 20-something who walked five miles around campus daily, I could do all kinds of crazy stuff — like eat cookies for dinner. Washed down with a full-fat latte to keep my caffeine intake steady, I wasn’t exactly rocking healthy eating habits. But those cookies were so good.

Years later, I still salivate at the idea of a buttery, cinnamon-rich cookie warm from the oven. Snickerdoodles are my weakness. When I stumbled across a recipe mixing my favorite flavors into acupcake, I was digging up the ingredients lickety-split.

And these didn’t disappoint. With melted butter right in the batter, all the snickerdoodle flavors I crave were wrapped into one moist cupcake. I’ll give you one caution, though: the cinnamon buttercream is intense. Maybe a little too intense, depending on how sweet and copious you like your frosting . . . so go lighter with it if you’re worried about getting overpowered.

But I don’t think you will be. They’re pretty awesome.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes:
1 package vanilla cake mix
1 cup milk (2 percent or whole)
1 stick butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Ingredients for frosting:
1 stick butter
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place cupcake liners in pans.

2. Place cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. Blend for three minutes, scraping occasionally.

3. Pour batter into pans and bake for 22-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes.

4. For frosting, beat butter until fluffy (at least three minutes). Add confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon, mixing in milk one tablespoon at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency. For thinner frosting, add more milk; for thicker frosting, less. After cupcakes have cooled, frost as desired. Yield: approximately 20 cupcakes. Enjoy!

{Recipe adapted from DuncanHines.com}