Sugar cookie cupcakes

An "oops!" in the kitchen yields something yummy

When I was baking sugar cookies last week, I made an oops. I meant to halve the recipe for angel sugar cookies — instead, I halved everything but the oil. When the cookie dough turned out extremely runny (more like batter), I knew I'd done something wrong. But it tasted so good! I couldn't bring myself to toss it. 

So I experimented. I broke out some adorable red and white striped cupcake liners that had been sitting in the pantry for (probably) years and evenly distributed the batter between them. I sprinkled some red sugar on top of each (because why not?), then baked the sugar cookie cupcakes at 350 degrees. Not knowing how quickly the batter would set, I just kept an eye on the oven. The result: yum.

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SUGAR COOKIE CUPCAKES

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 
1 large egg
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups plus 1 TBS flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together eggs, oil, butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and pour in batter so each cup is about 2/3 full. Bake for 14–20 minutes or until set.

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When these sugar cookie cupcakes were taste tested, high praise sounded throughout the house. The consistency is dense, but soft and crumbly; like a cupcake-sized Lofthouse sugar cookie with a richer, more buttery flavor. I don't love how the sprinkles look on top, but my mom thought they were cute. As you can see from the photo, the centers of the cupcakes sank, so in the future I might experiment with baking powder/soda to keep them from falling, or pipe a dollop of frosting in the middle of each. But in my opinion these cupcakes don't need embellishment; they're not super sweet, just buttery and wonderful. Arguably the best-tasting treat to come out of my weekend of sugar cookies — and they were an "oops!" Go figure.