Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes [Review]

While we're on the topic of sweets, why not!? Let me tell you, este momento, these cupcakes are to. die. for. If you're a peanut butter lover. Last fall (when I made the cupcakes and never blogged about it :O) I took these with me everywhere as a "thank-you hostess" gift. They were WELL received EVERY time. I honestly think this one girl thought I was an up-and-coming Food Network star, she was so impressed. But, enough about the flattery, more about these cupcakes. The original recipe can be found here: http://www.neverhomemaker.com/2010/01/vegan-ized-sk-chocolate-peanut-butter.html. This is how I made them (essentially to a T.)


What you'll need for the chocolate cupcakes . . .

• 3 tablespoons applesauce
• 1-1/8 cups soy milk (eyeballed the 1/8)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1/2 cup wheat pastry flour* 
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup unbleached cane sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw brown sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoons baking soda

Method . . .

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Insert cupcake liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. Whisk together the applesauce, soy milk, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
4. Cup by cup add the dry ingredients to the liquid ones. Beat well.
5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the top of the cupcake is rather firm and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool and then frost (recipe below).

Frosting . . . (makes about 2.5 cups)

• 5 ounces vegan cream cheese, at room temperature (I used SunnySide Tofutti)
• 2 ounces butter Earth Balance (or other butter substitute), at room temperature
• 2.5 cups vegan confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter (I used Skippy Jiff Natural)

Method . . .

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the vegan cream cheese and Earth Balance until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar -- 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. (Doing it 1 cup at a time is VERY important.)
2. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

*I also made these using 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour (so the scaling down would be exact), but I felt the whole wheat taste became overpowering. I much preferred using a 1:1 ratio in terms of the flours.

Overall, I scaled the recipe in half because there are only two people living in my house and heaven knows we don't ginormous batch of cupcakes sitting around. As I said before, these cupcakes are top of the line. Definitely five stars. Especially if you want something to carry with you as you visit someone else. I didn't make the chocolate drizzle topping as Ashley did when she made them, but I also did not miss it. When I really get my life together, I will 100% make these the semi-vegan way Ashley did. I have no doubt they are delicious however you make them. Salud!

Cookies!!!

MIA OVER! Hopefully. Today, because things weren't going my way, I decided to make cookies. Mistake (so it seems, haven't tried a cookie yet). Nevertheless, I'm here to let you know about the endeavor. The original recipe I nabbed from allrecipes.com and can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/outrageous-chocolate-chip-cookies/detail.aspx. This is how I made the recipe.


1/2 cup butter
1/21/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup [natural, low sodium] peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg 1 tbs. ground flax seed, 3 tbs. water
1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 22 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Now, my favorite thing to do when "cleaning up" recipes, as I noted above with strike-outs, is to forget how much heavier whole wheat flour is than white. When I was preparing the cookies to go on the cookie sheet, I could tell they were WAY too dry and as I sit here eating them they definitely are not as moist as they should be. I cut the batch in half, cooking some and freezing the rest. When I thaw the rest, one day, I will most likely add apple sauce to give some moisture back. Indeed, even though I cut the amount of white sugar, I feel the amount of both sugars could have been cut and replaced with applesauce. Think about it, there is definitely sugar in the peanut butter AND semi-sweet chocolate chips. To add ANOTHER 2/3 cup of sugar seems like a whopper. Of course, these are things I only think of in retrospect. On a random note, once I finish using this bag of chocolate chips, I am intending on switching to carob chips. I, generally, cannot tell the difference.

Overall, I give the recipe 3 stars out of 5. Mainly for my mistakes. [Though we all know this girl is still going to eat ALL the cookies]. I do think this is an excellent recipe to start with if you are interested in attempting to clean up recipes or modify according to your dietary preferences. Salud!