Give Me S'more Cupcakes!

Once upon a time I got in the mood for cupcakes. I looked through my cookbooks and nothing looked peppy enough. Even my Vegan With a Vengence book didn't help. I was missing some key ingredients. I've tried to be innovative with baking before, and it's fallen through. This time, though, it worked. Isa Chandra Moskowitz gave me a helpful springboard in her Vegan Cupcakes take Over the World. I don't own the book, but have baked from my sister's copy before. This time I looked it up on good old Google Books.

I still didn't have all of the ingredients. I had to improvise. Here's what happened: delicious, nutty, fluffy S'more cupcakes that melted in our mouths. We nibbled on them while watching Glee and couldn't stop raving about them (even while Kurt's Valentine sang his romantic failure of a song, breaking all of our hearts for Kurt, if only for a moment).

Nutty S'more Cupcakes
¾ c brown sugar
¼ c cashew or peanut butter, melted
¼ c canola oil
1 ½ c milk alternative
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 tsp maple syrup
1 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp powdered ginger
¾ c graham cracker crumbs

Icing:
1/4 - 1/3 c milk alternative
1/4 c earth balance
1/4 c peanut butter
1/4 c graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c powdered sugar, as needed

1/4 c organic dark chocolate shavings

How To:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tin.
Mix brown sugar, melted nut butter, oil, milk alternative, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt into a separate bowl and mix. Add graham cracker crumbs. Mix well.

Add dry ingredients to wet in three batches, mixing well each time.

Fill each muffin tin ¾ of the way full. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until toothpick, knife, or other utensil inserted comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely before icing (my problem with patience is clearly apparent here).

For Icing
Mix together earth balance, soy milk and peanut butter well. Add powdered sugar by the tablespoon, mixing well, until a thin icing is formed. Add graham cracker crumbs. Mix well. Refrigerate until cupcakes are cooled.

Assembly:
Slather a generous amount of icing on top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle generously with grated chocolate. Add a broken off corner of a graham cracker for an added flourish. Serve immediately and enjoy!


I'm making these again on Tuesday for our United Workers Open House. Pictures to follow.