Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Good morning everyone.  I hope that you are all having a pleasant weekend.  Last night we had friends over and were going to go see the local fireworks, but by the time we finished eating we decided we didn't want to deal with traffic and stuff so we stayed and hung out.

Our friends that came over have a similar eating style to my boy and I.  Kim has been vegetarian since she was seven, and her husband Jason is a carnivore, much like my boyfriend. So for the boys I made bacon wrapped steak, I spent like 30 minutes in the meat aisle at the store wondering what to buy and how much to buy because I've seen these boys eat like an entire pack of hot dogs plus a few burgers.  Sadly, as most veggies know- finding something easy to cook on the grill is a challenge. So Kim and I ended up with veggie burgers. But to make up for that sad, I got corn on the cob from the farm and made veggie kabobs with zucchini from the farm.  I thought about making home made veggie burgers but instead decided to do cupcakes instead.  Good choice- and that's what I'm going talk about now.

These are delicious easy chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter cream frosting.  I adapted them from the amazing Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Best book ever! Goes great with a glass of soy milk or a big cup of coffee.

Chocolate Cupcakes:
(makes 12 regular size cupcakes or 24 minis)
Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract (optional)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar and extracts, set aside to curdle a few minutes.
3. Beat together the sugar and oil in a large bowl.  Add in liquid and continue to mix until blended.
4. Add flour, beat together.  Add in cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and continue to mix until completely blended together.
5. Pour into lines, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the venter comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

The frosting can be tricky.  If you use natural peanut butter that gets really hard in the fridge, be sure to let it stay out so it softens up a bit.  I just opened the jar, so it was a little hard to work with because it is so runny.  If it's too difficult to work with, melting it slightly in the microwave may help a little.
Ingredients:

6 tablespoons vegan margarine, softened
2 tablespoons shortening
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coonfectioners' sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 table spoons soy milk

Directions:

1.  Beat together margarine and shortening until smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla and continue to smooth.
2.  Beat sugar a little at a time. If it begins getting too thick, start adding soy milk a little at a time. The frosting is really fluffy and yummy, but does have a bit of a crumbly appearance. You're going to want to eat it with a spoon- I did...

Bess was very interested in this frosting.  She was quite the supervisor in this peanut butter prep.

She approved.  

The frosting was a bit melty since it was a fresh jar of peanut butter, so I chilled it while washing the dishes just to make it easier to work with.  The frosting is a weird color, I mean it's peanut butter color, but it looks a little funny. 

Enjoy the deliciousness that are these cupcakes, and keep cool-- Bess knows how to!