September 16, 2012

Vegan Apple Spice Cupcakes


To continue my infatuation with fall: more apple posts! This time, I used a recipe from an awesome vegan book gifted to me from the wedding. These cupcakes are light, fluffy, and healthy. Best part? They are SO fall!

I adapted the recipe to coat the apples in another layer of spice making these guys delicious delicious delicious!



Packed full of flavor these guys were originally supposed to be made with a caramel topping but I took a trick that I saw my new brother and law do (hi Andy!) and sprinkled the top with brown sugar mixed with a little bit of oil to maintain that sugar-y crunch.

See that hole in the top of that muffin? That was a sugar crater. This didn't happen to the other ones, but I thought it was pretty awesome.

Yay! More autumn baking! I made two batches of these during the week, the hubby was such a fan. AND since they're light on calories, you can essentially eat them nonstop...


Apple Spice Cupcakes
Adapted from Veganomicon

For the apples
3 apples (peeled, cored, and diced into little pieces)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon canola oil/vegan margarine/pat of butter (shhh don't tell the vegans)

Toss your apples in the spices and flour. Heat over medium high heat the brown sugar and oil/butter until slightly bubbling. Add in your apples and cook until caramelized, most of the liquid has been cooked off, and apples are soft (about 10 minutes). Your little apple pieces will look like fall in a pot! Remove from heat and let cool.

**Note: you can use more/less apple depending on how apple-y you want your cupcakes to be. Feel free to experiment!

For the cupcakes
1 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix together 1 cup soy milk and lemon juice. Let it sit for a minute and it will curdle (really?!? really. It's awesome). Add in the oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift together all your spices (double spice layer!), flour, and baking soda and powder. Incorporate into the milk mixture.

For the topping
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I love cinnamon, can you tell?)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon canola oil

Mix together all these ingredients. The brown sugar should look just slightly moistened.

Putting it all together: Preheat the oven to 350 and line your muffin tin with cupcake liners. Now, fold in your cooled apple squares into your cupcake mixture. It will look amazing! Fill your cupcake liners almost completely full. These guys do not rise much so don't worry about leaving too much room in the cupcake tin. Top with your topping and bake for about 20 minutes.

Cool on a rack and enjoy!!

So delicious and so fall!


Sam

11 comments:

  1. I made these cupcakes and they keep coming out very moist in the middle, almost like they are undercooked. I even cooked them about 10 min longer than directed. Am I doing something wrong?

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  2. Hi Steffany! I'm so glad you've tried making these cupcakes but sorry that they haven't been coming out perfectly for you - I didn't seem to have this problem so it may depend on your oven or the humidity of your climate.

    Here are my suggestions

    1. Fill your cupcakes less than what you were doing. They don't get much rise of out them so you risk having smaller cupcakes but that may help with the process
    2. I love me some carry-over cooking. When they come out of the oven, let them cool in the muffin tin completely. That additional heat can help with any residual baking without burning. They are by nature, very moist cupcakes, the carryover cooking will help with retaining that moisture, too.
    3. Cook your apple mixture a little longer to really suck out any additional moisture you got going on there.
    4. There is no harm in baking them longer than directed. My sad little medical school oven is probably not the best example of standardized temperatures. As long as you're not burning them and they're not dry - let them go! Once they spring back at you in the middle, you're golden.

    Hope that helps and thanks for making my day by letting me know people are trying out the recipes!
    - Sam

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  3. Just made these and they turned out fantastic!

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  4. Thanks for letting me know Katie! I'm so glad!

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  5. I'm not sure! Id give it a try by replacing half the flour with whole wheat. Let me know how it turns out :)

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  6. Is this for 12 cupcakes? I want to make them for my nephew's birthday party but I'm not sure how many cupcakes this would yield.

    Thanks! (They look so delicious!)

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  7. Hi Daniela! If memory serves me right, I had enough for juuusstt over a dozen (14-16). Hope that helps!

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  8. Great, thank you! Can't wait to make them on saturday!

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  9. Oh my god, I just made a test batch today to be sure my 15-year-old oven wouldn't sabotage me on saturday. They are the best cupcakes I've ever made AND eaten. So easy to make and so delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe!

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  10. SO glad they brought you delight. You inspired me to make a batch! (I got 15 by the way)

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