Vegan S'Mores Cupcakes

What better way to kick off this blog with a cupcake recipe?  I made these for a Christmas party for my omnivorous friends and they were soooooo good, nobody knew they were vegan!  Of course, I waited until they were all gone to tell them… ;)

This recipe comes from the wonderful book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  It’s one of my very favorite dessert recipes now!

Ingredients:

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons molasses

¼ soy yogurt

1 ¼ cups soymilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup graham cracker crumbs (you can use vegan graham crackers that have been ground in a food processor if you cannot find vegan crumbs)

1.       Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2.      Mix the brown sugar, oil, molasses, yogurt, soy milk, and vanilla in a large bowl.

3.      Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a separate bowl and mix.  Add the graham cracker crumbs and mix it up.

4.      Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, mixing well after each addition.

5.      Fill cupcake liners full.  Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before decorating.

Top them with vegan buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache (recipes follow) and sprinkle on extra graham cracker crumbs.

Vegan buttercream frosting:

½ cup nonhydrogenated shortening (I used Earth Balance)

½ cup nonhydrogenated margarine (again, Earth Balance is great!)

3 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted if clumpy

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ plain soy milk or soy creamer

1.       Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.  Add the vanilla and soy milk, beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

***Note: Use half this recipe for one batch of cupcakes!

Quick Chocolate Ganache:

3 tablespoons soy creamer or soy milk

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1.       Heat soy creamer in a small saucepan over medium heat till just about to simmer.  Remove from heat; add chocolate chips and stir till chocolate is completely melted and creamer is incorporated.  Set aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes.  With a spatula, scoop into a prepared pastry bag or plastic bag with the tip chopped off, or drizzle haphazardly with a fork.  The ganache will set when fully cooled.

(I used the “drizzle haphazardly with a fork" method; very messy but very fun!!)

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Hey everyone!  I decided to start this blog to document my experience as a relatively new vegetarian/college student/inexperienced cook.  I love to cook, but I have found that my creations either turn out spectacularly or fail miserably!  Still, I’m not a bad cook, and I’m pretty sure I have more experience than most other college students.  But I really want to get to the point where I can cook well enough to not need recipes, or to be able to make my own recipes.  I want that inherent knowledge!

Cooking experience successes: mac and cheese (NOT out of box!), “fried rice” (which is usually whatever vegetables and seasonings I feel like putting in minus the eggs), teriyaki noodles and veggies, corn and vegetable chowder, and other vegetarian basics like spaghetti squash and baked sweet potatoes.

Let’s expand on that!

Cooking experience failings: the aforementioned corn and vegetable chowder when attempting to double the recipe without using the recipe, majadra (Middle Eastern rice and lentils) without the sufficient number of onions, and falafel that dissolved in the frying oil because the recipe called for dried chickpeas and I only had canned…whoops.

Luckily, I have a basic knowledge of cooking essentials from my dad, who is a major foodie and has worked as a chef in the past.  My mom is a great natural cook too.  Having parents like mine means two things:

1.       A pretty much guaranteed fantastic meal (okay, Dad, I’m omitting your experiment with shepherd’s pie back in my meat eating days…..but other than that…)

2.      Increased pressure to meet up to the family standards!

So with writing this blog, I hope to expand my cooking knowledge, dabble in the wonders of veganism, feed my roommates yummy, healthy food, survive college, impress my family, and have fun along the way!  (and because I am a random being, you can expect plenty of posts relating to my many other interests!)

Let’s get started!

Your new veggie friend,

Keavy Bee