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