Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing
From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Ingredients for Cupcakes

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup oil *I used canola
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup soy milk *I used organic vanilla
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions for Cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
• In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk, and vanilla.  Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Stir together with a fork–don’t use a hand-held mixer, as  it will make the batter gummy.  Once well combined, fold in the chocolate chips.
• Fill liners two-thirds full.  Bake for 22-24 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let fully cool before icing.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Icing

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for Cinnamon Icing

• Place sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Add margarine, soy milk, and vanilla and stir with a fork until smooth. Keep at room temperature until ready to use.  The mixture should look opaque and honey brown.  If it’s glistening a lot or looks too liquid, add a little extra confectioners’ sugar.

To Assemble

• Take a small plastic sandwich bag and cut out a tiny hole in one edge or fit a pastry bag with a small-holed decorating tip.  Fill the bag with icing and pipe it out Jackson Pollack-style onto the cupcakes.  You may also opt to pipe it in zig-zags, lines or swirls. Let the icing set at room temperature or refrigerate.

Nutritional Information
Calculated with Spark People’s Recipe Calculator (It’s fun to use and gives tons of data, as you’ll see below)

• 1 Cupcake w/o icing: Calories 241.3, Total Fat 11.5 g (Saturated Fat 2.0 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 2.9 g, Monounsaturated Fat 6.1 g), Cholesterol 0.0 mg, Sodium 126.6 mg, Potassium 120.7 mg, Total Carbohydrate 34.2 g, Dietary Fiber 1.9 g, Sugars 21.8 g, Protein 2.2 g, Vitamin A 111.4 %, Vitamin B-12 1.0 %, Vitamin B-6 1.4 %, Vitamin C 2.5 %, Vitamin D 0.6 %, Vitamin E 11.8 %, Calcium 6.3 %, Copper 5.3 %, Folate 6.3 %, Iron 7.8 %, Magnesium 5.0 %, Manganese 10.7 %, Niacin 4.7 %, Pantothenic Acid 2.1 %, Phosphorus 4.0 %, Riboflavin 6.1 %, Selenium 0.9 %, Thiamin 7.7 %, Zinc 1.9 % (*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs)
• One serving of cinnamon icing: 34 calories, 1.4g fat, 0.1g fiber, 0.1g protein for one serving of icing
• One cupcake with one serving cinnamon icing: 275.30 calories, 12.9g fat, 2g fiber, 2.3g protein

To see the recipe for the devil’s food cupcakes pictured above with the pumpkin cupcakes, see here.

If you’re looking for cool holiday gift options, I’d recommend the vegan cupcake recipe book that the above recipe came from.  The authors recently released a vegan cookies recipe book (Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Treats) too which I’m hoping to get sometime soon! Or, bake a batch of these goodies to give as a gift (if you plan on doing so, I’ll send you my address hint hint wink wink).

In case you’re wondering, no I’m not vegan. And, frankly, I don’t have a staunch stance on the issue of vegan eating in general. If you know me at all, you know I’m kind of a relativist when it comes to food choices.  However, I do love to try new things and I think that the overarching vegan concern for the environment and ethical treatment of animals is awesome and something I align with in my own practices, in my own way.  And on that note, it’s time to stuff my face, I’m cranky!

Give-Away Round Up

• Win some MixMyGranola here — Ends 11/18
• Win some Heart Thrive and Sun Cake Energy Bars here — Ends 11/18
• Win some Somersault Snacks here — Ends 11/23 (I *love* those snacks, by the way!)

If you’re an omnivore or vegetarian, are you open to trying vegan recipes?

<3,

The Cranky One

p.s. Happy Birthday Jody! You are such a sweet and positive voice in the blogging community (and…you’re hot – ’nuff said).