Halloween Cupcakes (Vegan)

BOO!

I love halloween. You have no idea. I don't know if its the scary things, costumes, treats, or the parties. I guess I love it all. So lets combine my love of food with my love for Halloween:

I don't get to bake a whole lot, but I really wanted to try my hand at vegan cupcakes. After a lot of research, I settled on this cupcake and frosting recipe. The cupcake is light and fluffy, with a hint of coconut. The frosting is sweet, but not too sweet, and has a hint of lime. Combined, they taste like a pina colada / margarita in your mouth!

My family actually really loved this, and even though they do not have sweet tooths, they still ate them up :) They look a little scary, but they really are the cutest, sweetest things... muHAHAHAHA.

Halloween Cupcakes (Vegan)

40 min total, Serves 18

Cupcake

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid*
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
  1. 1. 
        1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pans or line with paper baking cups.
        2. Measure almond milk into a 2 cup measuring cup. Add apple cider vinegar to milk and give a quick stir. Let the milk mix stand until curdled, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk mixture with liquid coconut oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
        3. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 17-20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in their pan, setting the pan over a wire rack.

Frosting

1 1/2 Avocados, peeled and pitted

juice from a lime, freshly squeezed

3/4 package of 1 lb confectioners sugar

2 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine avocado and lime juice in a bowl. Mash the two together and blend using hand blender or transfer ingredients to an upright blender. Once the ingredients look smoother, add the sugar in small batches and continue to blend. Once completely smooth, add vanilla and blend until color is even.

2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes with a spoon. Add additional decorations and allow to set at room temperature.

*Found the coconut oil at Fred Meyers in their organic/health foods section. Its a solid that comes in a jar, so it needs to be scooped out, warmed to a liquid, and then used. I bought the organic coconut oil, scooped it into a bowl, microwaved on medium for about 30 seconds and then stirred. I repeated this for maybe 2 minutes more, stopping at 30 seconds each time.

Here are the links I went by:

Cupcake

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegan-Cupcakes/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

Frosting

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Avocado-Icing/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

Cherry with Cream Cheese pie

It's summer time, and whenever I walk into a supermarket, I see mouthwatering fruits that are in season. As much as I'd like to buy these fruits, I refuse to, knowing I have a bag of frozen sitting in the freezer. We found a large bag of bing cherries in our freezer the other day and my mom threatened to throw it all away if I wasn't going to use it. So I sat there with a tub of hot water, defrosting the cherries and pitting them 0_O my hands had a mixture of freezing fingertips and hot palms. Anyway, we decided to make it into a dessert. This could be a vegan if you omit the cream cheese or use a vegan alternative.

Cherry with Cream Cheese pie
1 hour, Serves 12
1 pound cherries, pitted (3 cups)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
5 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 roll peppridge farm phyllo dough
non stick spray or 2 tablespoon melted butter
6 tablespoons creamcheese, softened at room temperature



1. Place pitted cherries and water into a pot on medium high. Drain juices from the pot once the juices start to collect at the bottom. Add sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and cornstarch to the pot. Bring the pot down to low-medium and continue to heat until the mixture thickens.
2. Prepare the phyllo dough by carefully unrolling it. Remove 5 layers and set aside. Place a slightly damp paper towel over the rest. With the seperated dough, spray non stick spray or spread melted butter between each layer, ending with another layer of spray on top. Cut the dough into 6 parts. Place cut dough into muffin tins and shape into a cup. Repeat these steps with another 5 sheets. Bake the dough according to manufactures instructions.
3. Once dough cups are baked and cooled, spoon cream cheese to the bottom of the cups and top with cherry filling.