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!

Vegan Pina Colada Cupcakes (alcohol free)

So I just got home from meeting with my new department head. As mentioned, I'm a special ed teacher and I got bumped from my cozy high school setting to the madness of middle school. Don't get me wrong- I'm happy I have a job in the district, but I love high school and was just finally getting the hang of it all, and now I'll be starting over in 6th grade in the fall--eep! But, at least I have a smaller case load and actual resource room time with my kids... I will have to stop with the sarcasm tho...

 Ok, so on to the important things-- CUPCAKES! So I made these at the end of the school year at the request of my advisory kids (like a homeroom, but we only met weekly for 30-40 min but I love these kids!) We had a party and when I said I'd bring in cupcakes, some of my girls requested Pina Colada cupcakes so I was like sure, I can do that. Then I realized mine usually include rum, so I'd have to figure out something different.

 So here goes--- Oh,I'd also like to apologize about the pictures. I did this pre-blog days, but really wanted to put something up. I will make it up next week as I have some fabulous ideas in the works for next weekend's picnics.


VEGAN PINA COLADA CUPCAKES (makes 12 cupcakes or 24 minis)

  Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup crushed pineapple (in its own juice)
1 tablespoon juice from pineapple
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/8 cup canola oil
1/8 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Frosting:
5 tablespoons vegan margarine-softened (I use Earth Balance)
3 tablespoons shortening
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
 1/4 teaspoon lime juice
1/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 tablespoon coconut milk

 To top:
Shredded coconut
Maraschino cherries

Directions:
Cupcakes: 
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with liners
2. Melt the coconut oil. I put it in a small pyrex and microwaved it starting at 30 seconds, but monitor it depending on your microwave.
3. In mixing bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, canola oil, and sugar. Add the coconut milk, pineapple and juice, lime juice and vanilla. Mix to combine.
4. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until ingredients are well blended-- there will still be chunks of pineapple.
5. Bake for 23-25 minutes for regular size cupcakes. 18-20 minutes for minis.
6. Cool completely before frosting.

<- cupcakes before they were cooked









Frosting:
 1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until combined well and fluffy. Add sugar a cup at a time, and continue to beat until it is crumbly.
2. Add coconut milk, extracts, lime and pineapple, continue to beat until smooth. Add a bit more cornstarch or sugar if it needs to be less liquidy or more coconut milk if too dry.*
3. Chill until ready to use-- definitely easier to work with after being in the fridge for about an hour. 

*Here's where I kind of fail at measuring. I usually add liquid and powder as needed and don't always pay attention to exactly how much I'm using. This is what I started with, but I ended up adding a little too much pineapple then too much sugar and yeah... I'll try to do better at measuring.

  To assemble:

 After cupcakes have cooled, pipe frosting onto them and then distribute shredded coconut to make them pretty. I cut the maraschino cherries in quarters since I used mini cupcakes and put them on top. Keep chilled for best results. I did have mine out in the classroom all day, and they were fine but if it's hot they will melt. They came out really pretty and tasty! The pictures don't do them justice. I will definitely make the rest much prettier.