Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cookie Cutouts

Name: Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cookie Cutouts
Yield: makes 22
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons ground ginger; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature; 1 1/2 cups sugar; 3 tablespoons unsulfured molasses; 4 large eggs, room temperature; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; Gingerbread Cookie Cutouts (page 320; use 2-inch ginger-bread boy and girl cutters); 1/2 recipe Royal Icing (page 315); Blue and pink gel-paste food colors; Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (page 302)

January 24, 2012

Gingerbread is the most recognizable Christmastime flavor; the scent of its signature spices baking in the oven fills a home with holiday cheer. These cupcakes are made with the same mixture of spices—nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, and ginger—as the tiny gingerbread-cookie boys and girls they are topped with. The recipe for the cookie dough will yield more cutouts than you need to decorate twenty-two cupcakes; serve extra cookies alongside.

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