Cupcakes and Cookies

One big fear that I notice among people who are trying to go vegan is that they don't want to give up cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. Luckily for them, there are plenty of ways to make delicious treats while still maintaining a vegan diet! These are very basic and easy to do recipes here that don't require you to be a super baker (trust me - I'm not). I managed to do these with the help of my daughter, which means you should be able to do them too! :)

We'll start with the cupcakes. I normally use Duncan Hines but the store we were at didn't carry it! So we went with our next vegan option - Pillsbury Strawberry cake mix. Please remember to read the ingredients before buying! Not all of them are vegan. This was the only vegan option available to us so we went with it. 

You will need

One box of cake mix

Applesauce

Earth Balance Butter

Vegetable oil

Cake Beaters

Icing and Sprinkles 

How to make

You'll notice I included applesauce in the list of ingredients. Applesauce is one of those magic foods that can be used to replace egg in a recipe. You can also substitute banana if you are making something that already has a banana taste. Applesauce leaves no taste so you can use it for anything. Substitute one tablespoon for every egg. Another good hint - You can use vegetable oil to replace the butter in a recipe. I like using Earth Balance butter instead of substituting straight vegetable oil, but it works if you run out of butter substitute. 

Follow the direction on the box. Mix the cake mix with applesauce, butter, and vegetable oil (or whatever your box calls for). Use cake beaters to ensure that it comes out smooth. The Pillsbury kind really fluffed up a lot and made it difficult to work with, but it still came out delicious.

Fill up the cupcake papers half of the way to about 2/3 of the way full. This kind was very hard to judge so I just plopped it in. If you use Duncan Hines, you'll be able to smoothly put it into the cupcake papers.

Let it cook for about 20 minutes. Keep checking and use a tooth pick to ensure they are done.

If you fill the cup properly, which I admit is pretty difficult to get right, you'll have a nice cupcake height. This took me a few batches in the beginning when I was learning, but if you mess a few up, don't worry! 

After they are cooled, feel free to decorate however you'd like!

In between making those, I also made some cookies. I used Pillsbury Funfetti Halloween Cookie mix. You can use the regular funfetti mix as well. This brand makes delicious cookies! 

You will need

Cookie mix
Applesauce

Vegetable oil

Earth's Balance Butter

Icing and sprinkles

How to make

Follow the directions on the box! Mix everything together, again substituting 1 table spoon of applesauce for 1 egg.  This is the easiest cookie recipe in the world. All you are doing is substituting non-vegan for vegan. 

We had a separate pan filled with a little bit of flour to cut our cookie shapes out. You can skip this step by rolling them into balls and cooking them. This is a fun, simple project that kids can even help with! I let my 1 year old cut a few cookies with no worries if she ate the dough since it didn't contain egg in it!

When finished, place them on a tray to cook. They will take about 8-10 minutes. When they are done, they will look beautiful and fluffy like this

When they cool down, feel free to decorate however you'd like and enjoy!