Cookies ’n cream cupcakes, take 2

As promised, here is part two of my Oreo cupcake saga. Chocoholics may rejoice, as these are the dark counterpoint to last week’s vanilla-y version. I found the recipe here, but it’s actually from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World (which I don’t have; sadness). This batch is much fluffier and cakier than the last, so if you’re looking for typical cupcake texture, these are the cakes for you. As an added bonus, thanks to some simple modification, they’re also nutritionally lighter than the first batch.

1 cup vanilla soymilk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
Heaping 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1T canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
8 Oreos/Hydrox/Newman O’s, crushed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners (they are necessary with this batch). In a large bowl, combine the soymilk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the sugar, applesauce, oil, and vanilla to the soymilk...



...and mix at low speed until the sugar is dissolved. With the mixer still on low, add the flour mixture in batches until just combined. Stir in the crushed cookies.



Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full.



Bake for 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.



Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack. Frost as desired.



These cupcakes could not be more different, texturally, from the batch before. Where the first ones were crumbly-but-creamy, these are pillowy and lightly moist. The chocolate flavor is very present, but not overwhelming. You can’t taste the Oreo as much as you can in the first batch since the cake itself is chocolate, but you can coax it out a little more by topping them with some vanilla frosting, homemade or storebought, with more crushed Oreos mixed in. In my experience, lighter-consistency cakes are somehow the worst for you, but the stats on these are unexpectedly low. In this cookies ‘n cream cupcake showdown, these babies emerge the winners.



Yield: 12 cupcakes. Per cupcake: 162 calories, 4g fat (1g sat), 31g carbs, 3g fiber, 3g protein.