In honor of the fact that summer is in complete denial of self and in hopes to give it a kick in its lazy rays, I have decided to infuse the punchy power of pumpkin into my cupcakes this week. Alliteration win!
Yes, I know that pumpkin is typically reserved for the start of Fall and the inevitable memes about Facebook posts noting the arrival of the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. Some of us genuinely like the stuff all year round, damn you. It’s a food, not a fad.
I didn’t intend on this blog to be mostly about food, but since I’ve been baking cupcakes weekly for my boyfriend’s open mic, I’m sharing the ones that actually came out good. Hurrah for random successes!
Another note – while my boyfriend and I are vegetarians, I bake vegan cupcakes (and muffins, but I don’t tell them that they’re technically muffins so as to not break hearts) to accommodate for our 3 friends and regulars who come to perform so that they’re never left out.
2 cups all-purpose flour**
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
dash of cloves
1 1/4 cups puréed pumpkin
1/2 cup nondairy milk
1/3 cup avocado oil
2 Tbsp. molasses
375°F Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, nondairy milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. 25 to 30 minutes in the oven – check with a toothpick.
**I’ve just recently purchased organic, sprouted garbanzo bean flour to phase out white flour and to add a little more protein in where I can. I haven’t completely subbed it out equally for flour yet to see what it tastes like and what it does to the consistency, but in having swapped one of the two cups of regular flour for garbanzo flour because I ran out while making this recipe, I’m not really concerned. It came out great and didn’t change the taste.
Once the muffins have cooled completely, mix powdered sugar with a bit of non-dairy milk, cinnamon and a splash of vanilla until a good glaze consistency is reached. Drizzle over muffins and throw some pumpkin seeds on top if you have them. Yeah, throw them. I hate saying “top with”.. I don’t know. You don’t have to use pumpkin seeds – you can go with any nut of your fancy. Yaaaaaaas! 😉 Or you can go nutless. Whatever tickles your proverbial pickle.
Check out the picture I’ve lifted from the inter web since I never freaking remember to take pictures of my food. Also, my pictures wouldn’t be nearly as 60s-filtered sexy.
half-priced hippie 