Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Um, folks, we have another winner. This one was so good it has bumped another cupcake out of the running altogether. Bye bye regular old chocolate, hello hot chocolate! In Taylor’s words, this is a much more sophisticated chocolate. In Robin’s words, mmmmm. The texture was fascinating. So moist, and yet fluffy and slightly grainy (in a good way). Something about the combination of ingredients that go into the batter, it comes out of the oven full of flavors you can’t quite identify. Deep, rich flavors. While we didn’t add enough cayenne to make it spicy, the pinch we did add brings a depth to the cake like adding salt might, but much more pronounced. It’s like the cayenne becomes a super salt – that brings out the fine details of all the other ingredients within the cake.

In other words, it’s darn good.

We topped these off with a simple cream cheese buttercream, flavored with almond and a touch of vanilla. I jokingly suggested we add some color to the snow white frosting, and immediately both Taylor and Robin shouted “Purple!”. Right, ok, purple it is. And how purple they are. Topped with some pearlescent jimmies, they make for a very glamorous cupcake.

save print

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes. Recipe adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons corn flour or very fine cornmeal
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

For Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
3-3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk or soymilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350?F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk together coconut milk and flaxseed and allow to sit for 10 minutes, then whisk in sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.

In another bowl, sift together flour, corn flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Gently mix in wet ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of batter (approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

For frosting, cream the butter. Slowly add most of the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Add soymilk, extracts, and coloring (if desired), and mix until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar, adding more if necessary to achieve proper consistency. Mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

I’d Call it a Success.

Thanksgiving is over for another year, and for that, we are sad. But we are still enjoying the memories (and the leftovers) from last night, and those will last at least a week (more so for the memories). It was a great Thanksgiving. We only had one (ok, two) semi-disasters, when our thermometer croaked on us (sorry for the panicked post!), and another when I forgot I was halving the pie crust recipe for a single crust pie, and accidentally added twice as much water as needed. Despite that, things turned out beautifully. The turkey was done through and not overcooked (phew!), and I had plenty of time to make another pie crust. We actually ate on time for once (4:30, to be exact), which is an amazing feat in and of itself. Our small table was overflowing with delicious food, and while we all ate way too much, way too fast, we sat staring at our empty plates, completely and utterly satisfied. After a brief digestion break, we enjoyed some James Bond and pumpkin pie (which I have since declared my most successful pie EVER), and went off to bed.

We also learned that turkey comas aren’t exclusive to humans, either…

Life is good, indeed.

I will be posting more pictures and recipes in the coming days, but right now, I’m feeling like some turkey sandwiches. And maybe some cupcakes, as if we didn’t spend enough time in the kitchen yesterday. :)

Done too early?

Um, so our thermometer looks like it’s short circuited or something, and isn’t giving us an accurate temperature reading. Our turkey has been in the oven for 2 hours 40 minutes (11.5 lb turkey) at 350 degrees F, and we’re hesitant to think it is done, but the few sporadic readings we did get showed well over the 160-170 degree F temperature recommendations, and the skin is beautifully browned.

Who knows of a failsafe way to tell if it’s really done or not, without a thermometer? Like, quick?

We’re not ready for it to be done yet! We were expecting AT LEAST another hour and half cooking time, still have to cook the stuffing, boil the potatoes, roast the green beans…

When is something like this EVER done EARLY?

Turkey – you baffle me.

A Thanksgiving Tradition

A Thanksgiving tradition has taken root, and it tastes darn good. What is it? Well, if you were around last year, you’d remember that we skipped the cooking the night before thanksgiving, instead replacing dinner with a delicious plate of pumpkin waffles. Well, we decided to do the same again this year, and it might just have to be something we do every year before Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving menu this year is just as ridiculous as last, except that this year we’ll have 3 people (hi Robin!) enjoying the feast, instead of just two. Still, stay tuned for plenty of leftovers recipes in the coming weeks, we’ll have lots.

save print

Pumpkin Waffles

Makes 4-6 servings, depending on the size of your waffle maker.
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk OR 2 cups soymilk mixed with 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F and preheat waffle iron.

Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices.

Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth.

In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks (as in, far soften than the over-beaten whites you'll see in my picture above). Folk them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.

Brush or spray waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Serve with warm maple syrup (for breakfast), or chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream (for dessert).

As for the rest of the menu, we’re only being somewhat adventurous. Our Turkey turned out so well and so perfect last year (even if it was 2 hours late), and we figured, why mess with a good thing? So we’re doing the same Cranberry Glazed Roasted Turkey as last year. Same for the Ultimate Garlic Mashed Potatoes. This year, however, we are trying a few new recipes, including a gravy recipe donated by the wonderful Auntie Sally (our gravy last year was eh…), some pancetta and chestnut stuffing by Giada (Taylor picked that recipe), an attempt at homemade jellied cranberry sauce (the only way I could convince Robin NOT to get a can of the stuff), simple roasted green beans, and a traditional Spiced Pumpkin Pie (our attempt at a twist on pumpkin pie last year didn’t go so well, we figure keeping it simple was the best bet).

As of now, 9:37 on Thursday morning:
- Turkey stock for gravy is made and in the fridge (made by boiling some aromatics with the turkey giblets — FYI: if you’re faced with the challenge of figuring out what is what when it comes to parts, this image might give you a hand. We needed all the organs EXCEPT the liver, and had no idea what the liver looked like.)
- Turkey is brining in it’s ‘body bag’.
- Jellied cranberry sauce is made and setting in the fridge.
- Pumpkin pie is made and actually looks somewhat decent (I have crust issues). It took about 20 minutes longer to bake than expected, which is not something you want to deal with at 11:00 at night.
- Garlic is prepped and roasting in the oven. Because 9:45 in the morning, roasting garlic is exactly the scent you want filling up your home. :) Lovely!

We’re planning on eating at 4:00. Which means we’ll probably eat at 6:00. Isn’t that always the case?

Hope you all have a lovely turkey day, filled with delicious smells and fun times with those you love. We’ll be back periodically throughout the day, updating you on our status and progress (just in case you need some light reading while your own bird is baking).