All American Cupcakes!!

Wow! I am super inspired and excited to start baking again. Baking is really an art form to me, and I never quite know how it will turn out, since I like making traditional recipes vegan. I recently got a really great idea to make a cupcake that is based on some of the flavors of apple pie. This was inspired by a trip to Penzey’s Spices. I love that store. A lot. If you have one in your area, go. They let you smell all the spices, and they have some great ones, including the apple pie spice that I used in this recipe. If you don’t have one in your area, you can’t smell the spices, but you can still window shop at www.penzeys.com. I served these cupcakes to one other vegan and a lot of omnivores who ate them like there was no tomorrow! They are moist and not very sweet. In other words, they are damn good.


All American Cupcakes

Filling
1 large granny smith apple
½ teaspoon of apple pie spice

Wet ingredients
¼ cup of vegan shortening
¼ cup of vegan butter
¾ cups of granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 ¼ cups vegan milk
4 ½ teaspoons of Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 6 tablespoons of water

Dry ingredients
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon apple pie spice (or a mix of cinnamon, etc to your taste)
2 teaspoons of baking soda

Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
½ heaping teaspoon apple pie spice
About 2 tablespoons soy creamer

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dice the granny smith apple. You want a very fine dice, about ¼ inch cubes or smaller. Dust with the apple pie spice and set to the side. Line a 12 cavity muffin pan with cupcake papers. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the shortening, butter, and granulated sugar until light and creamy. Add the salt and milk. In a separate bowl, whisk the Ener-G and water until combined. I use a whisk to do this. Add that to the wet mixture. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet, a bit at a time, mixing until combined. Spoon a large tablespoon into each cupcake paper. Sprinkle some of the cubed apple into each. Top with another large tablespoon of batter. This should fill the paper. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool, whisk the powdered sugar with the apple pie spice, and soy creamer. Dip each cupcake in the frosting and allow this to harden/be absorbed.


Chef’s notes

This cupcake looks like it has a lot of text, but it took me only 15 minutes of prep and then the baking time. I made my frosting while the cupcakes were in the oven to save time. I think this is a great way to make an enjoy cupcakes because they are not overly sweet and doing a simple glaze as the frosting keeps the calories low. They taste more elegant than they look, so give these cupcakes a try.