Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This is by no means an original recipe, although I've adapted it just a bit. This cupcake recipe is all over the internet. Sometimes it's not even mentioned as being vegan though. It's usually titled, "My grandmothers chocolate cupcake recipe." Probably because back in the day they used the most simple ingredients. This will be my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe, even when I don't need it to be vegan. They taste so good, and are so moist. Not to mention, they are super cheap to make considering there are no eggs or butter in the recipe.

The only problem I'm having with this recipe is finding an acceptable frosting. When searching the internet for vegan frosting, I felt a little let down. Every single recipe I found either contained margarine or vegetable shortening, gross! I'm sorry but I'd rather have regular butter any day over margarine or shortening. The fact that both are hydrogenated chemicals or oil totally grosses me out. I can't understand why someone being vegan (usually a healthier bunch of people) would be eating either of these things.

I did check out my favorite vegan cookbook, "Veganomicon," for ideas though. They had a few good recipes for icings or a pencuhe frosting (old school fudgy like stuff). But they list non-hydrogenated vegan margarine in their recipes. Which is fine and dandy, but where the heck am I going to find that stuff and I don't even want to imagine how expensive it is.

So any who, here's the recipe. I hope you all have a chance to try it.

Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes -
(makes 8 cupcakes)

3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. water (I substitute room temp. coffee here, I think it brings out the chocolate flavor)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tbsp. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 8 standard muffin cups with cupcake liners.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

In separate bowl, whisk sugar, oil, water (or coffee), vanilla, and vinegar until well blended. Whisk in sifted flour mixture and mix until smooth, approx. 1 minute.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.

Frost with desired frosting or dust with powdered sugar for a simple and quick cupcake.

This years Thanksgiving menu!

I'm really excited for Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving in the past has been kinda hectic as we've always tried to make sure we hit up all the family's homes. It usually turned into a full weekend of Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, that's great and all, but sometimes this girl can get a little tired of the same 'ol Thanksgiving traditional Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry, and stuffing routine.
This year, oh yeah, I'm doing things a little different.

Here's my menu -

1. Glazed spiral sliced ham (for my husband, who loves ham but never gets it any other time of year).
2. Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin
3. My sisters brussel sprouts (I don't have a recipe, but these brussel sprouts rock).
4. Cheesy broccoli casserole with Ritz cracker topping
5. Mini homemade biscuits (recipe to come soon, I promise).
6. Classic stuffing with apples and cranberries

And for dessert, my favorite meal of the day....

1. Pumpkin Dulce De Leche cheesecake (yuummm, I can't wait for this one).
2. Homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

I'm only making ice cream because my husband and been hounding me to make him a plain vanilla ice cream for about 4 months now. I think I owe him. Plus, that way there will be an alternative in case someone might be a cheesecake hater out there, not sure how that's possible, but I've heard of that condition.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze

Better late than never, right? This recipe was from this last summer when zucchini was coming out of my ears!

I love, love, love zucchini, but actually do not care for it to be incorporated into a sweet bread like most people. I've never come across a zucchini bread that's made me say, "Please, please give me your zucchini bread recipe!" Well, I think that's changed since finding this recipe. I've adapted it just a bit. The original recipe is actually for a Lemon Rosemary Zucchini bread. I'm not much of a fan of rosemary, it's possibly the one herb that I could do without. I don't even have the dried stuff in my pantry. I also concocted a lemon glaze to go on the tops of the loaves. I think it came out pretty darn good. The tartness of the lemon really breaks up the sweetness of the bread. I urge you to try this the next time zucchini is in season.

Continue reading for recipe....

Raspberry Meringues

So pretty and light as air. If you are wanting to make some super easy meringues, give these a try. Just follow the recipe from my Lemon Basil Meringues, omit the lemon and basil of course. In it's place add 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract and about 4-5 drops red food coloring.

Chocolate Dulce De Leche Bars

I got the recipe from Epicurious, one of my favorite sites for off beat recipes, nothing is quite the norm on that site, and I love it! I modified it by just one ingredient. Instead of using vanilla extract in the shortbread crust I opted for cinnamon to add a little bit more Latin flare. These got some really good reviews so I urge you to try these awesome bars.

Continue reading for recipe....

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache (AKA - The Super Manly Cupcake)

I've been trying to come up with cupcakes that could cater to a mans taste. Not some frilly girly cupcake that they couldn't possibly be seen eating in public. I've come up with a few good ideas that I haven't yet tried but will for sure post about in the near future. This one isn't one of my own idea, I've seen this done a ton of times but it's the first time I've attempted a chocolate stout cupcakes. I was a little worried about the beer taste in the cupcake, but man, it was amazing. Just the slightest undertone of stout came through the dark chocolate.

Here's a pic and the recipe is below.

Chocolate Stout cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Cupcake (makes 12) -
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 cup dark chocolate cocoa (I just use the Hersey's brand)
3/4 cup Young's Double Chocolate Stout beer (or any other good stout that you prefer)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
2 tablespoons Young's Double Chocolate Stout
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

For the cupcakes -
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with 12 liners. Place chopped chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Heat beer on stove stop until just simmering (2-3 min. on high). Pour beer over chocolate and cocoa and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool in refrigerator for approx. 10-15 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together, set aside. Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until just smooth (do not over beat). Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups. Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to the touch, about 17-19 minutes. Cool in muffin tin for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the ganache -
Heat stout and heavy cream in microwave until simmering, about 30-45 seconds. In separate bowl mix chopped chocolate and confectioners' sugar. Pour hot stout/cream mixture over chocolate and whisk until well blended and smooth.

Finally, to complete the cupcakes just dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes into the ganache and let excess drip off before inverting back upright. Place back on rack until chocolate is cooled, or like me, eat right away while the chocolate is still warm and gooey.

I also sprinkled a little sea salt on top of my cupcakes, just to bring out even more of the chocolate flavor in these bad boys. Feel free to leave that out if you prefer though.

Orange Cream Cupcakes (I cheated...)

Yes, I majorly cheated on this batch of cupcakes, I admit it.

So, since I've started on this whole cupcake obsession I've only been baking from scratch. Well, about 6-8 months ago I bought a box of cake mix thinking I would have used it for something. That day never came, until today that is! Finally got ride of that box that was staring me down every time I opened the pantry door.

I ended up making a batch of orange creme cupcakes. For the cupcake batter I just followed the instructions on box and added the zest of one large orange. For the frosting I made a basic buttercream but added some orange juice and orange extract. I topped the cupcakes off with some orange sprinkles, you know, just to add in that special touch of orange (didn't want to shock people who would be thinking that it's just a vanilla cupcake).

Lemon Basil Meringues

I was feeling a bit adventurous in the flavor department and decided to make some lemon basil meringues. It was a good excuse to use the fresh basil from our garden that my husband has been so kind to grow for me.

Plus, this recipe was a great way for me to really test my new Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Boy, did it work great! The last time I made meringues I debated ever making them again. With this mixer I think I might go on a meringue binge. I love meringues because you can impart such a variety of flavor combos. They are super low in calories, and basically NO fat. You can eat these bad boys completely guilt free!

While in the oven -

Here's the recipe -

Lemon Basil Meringues
makes about 30-40 cookies

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
3/4 cup sugar
zest of one small lemon
4 basil leaves chopped as finely as possible

Place egg whites in large metal bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment (or use large metal bowl and electric hand mixer).
Add cream of tarter to egg whites.
Beat in mixer on medium high speed until soft peaks form.
Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until all has been incorporated and egg whites are stiff and glossy.
Fold lemon zest and basil into whipped egg whites, do not over mix.
Position oven racks in upper and lower third of oven and preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Pipe or spoon into 1 inch cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 1 1/2-2 hours until crisp in the center.

Per cookie - Approx. 15 cal, 0 grams fat, 3 grams carbs

Goat Cheese and Apricot or Boysenberry Empanadas

Say what? Goat cheese empanadas? Yep, and they were delicious.

So, I had gone to Trader Joe's the other day for one reason, to buy a log of goat cheese (and whatever fun stuff I could find, I never leave that store with just one thing). I was going to use said goat cheese crumbled on some oven roasted fingerling potatoes I was making that same evening. I made the potatoes, put some fresh herbs from the garden on them and was getting ready to crumble the cheese on top. The sneaky person I am, I decided to take a quick bite of the goat cheese, you know, for quality assurance. Good thing I did! It was SO sweet, not regular goat cheese. I looked at the package and I ended up buying HONEY goat cheese. Ugh. I personally would have never bought something like that. Why? You can just drizzle some honey on regular goat cheese if that's what I'm craving. Seems kinda like an odd combo to me though. That would have tasted disgusting on my oven roasted potatoes. So, we went without the goat cheese.

What to do with this weird sweet honey goat cheese? Make empanadas of course! I bought some ready made pie crust at the store, already had the goat cheese, some apricot preserves, and boysenberry jam. It was so easy! The pie crust is already rolled out, I just cut some circles with a large cup. Then, I put about a teaspoon of goat cheese on each circle, then topped that with about a teaspoon of jam (kept the flavors separate though). To close each circle I used an egg wash on the edge and crimped it with a fork. I finally brushed the tops with the remaining egg wash and sprinkled with sugar. Baked at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. They were yummy and super easy. I hope you end up trying this one at home. Feel free to try any other flavor combos. A good one might be a slice of brie with some fig preserves... mmmmmm.

Breakfast of champions cupcakes.... They're GRRRREAT!

I'll probably get sued for using that slogan....

I was pondering the idea of a breakfast cupcake the other day and came up with this little ditty. How does this sound, a buttermilk pancake batter cupcake with sausage crumbles (yes, actual meat in a cupcake), with maple frosting? Killer, right? Literally knocked my socks off with sweetness.

Oh so simple cupcakes, recipe included!

Hi there folks. When I got home from work today I had a craving for cupcakes. When am I not craving or thinking about new cupcakes though? Never! Having a 6 month old at home doesn't leave me with too much free time when I get home after a long day of paper pushing. I decided to make a very small batch of vanilla bean buttermilk cupcakes, literally made only 8 cupcakes. To me, that is the perfect amount. Two for me, two for the hubby, and some freebies to take to work the next day.

These had to of been the easiest cupcakes I've made so far and some of the tastiest. I had some leftover butterscotch chips from making my oatmeal Scotchie cupcakes last weekend and wanted to use them. That way I'm not tempted to just go grab a handful out of the freezer (come on, you know you do it too).

Here's a pic of the finished goods....

Keep reading for recipe.

Can you believe Jimmy Fallon could inspire a cupcake?

These cupcakes are from a while back but I have to post them because I think they have to be my all time favorite so far. I keep getting requests from my husband to make these again. I wish I had a better picture and one of just those cupcakes by themselves.
So here's the scoop.... I was watching Jimmy Fallon's late night show about 2 months ago and he had Ben and Jerry on there. Yes, Ben and Jerry the ice cream makers extraordinaire. Just as Steven Colbert had come out with Americone Dream by Ben and Jerry, Jimmy Fallon was going to get his own ice cream flavor. How exciting to me, wondering what Jimmy Fallon could conjure up. I must be a dork getting so excited just reminiscing about this frickin' ice cream! So, his flavor was...... vanilla bean ice cream with salted caramel swirl and chocolate covered potato chip clusters. I was so excited to find this ice cream in my local grocery store but every time I went, it was not to be found. What's a girl to do? I know, come up with it's match in cupcake form!

Experimental Oatmeal Scotchie Cupcakes.... My grandmother would be so proud.

The husband and I were pondering new cupcake ideas that could maybe be one of a kind. He suggested doing something with butterscotch. That to me was kinda hard considering the only form of butterscotch available at the stores without making homemade would be butterscotch morsels and butterscotch ice cream topping.

Then, it all came rushing in, the oatmeal scotchies my Grandma used to always make me! Those were the best things ever! Super buttery and made even more buttery goodness with the butterscotch chips.