Chocolate Spice Cupcakes

     A long time ago, when Natalie and I lived together in a big blue house on 39th Ave, we were baking and eating cupcakes--something we did on a fairly regular basis. Natalie had the idea of a square cupcake, because she said, "Squares/cubes are a better shape than circles/cylinders. (She is a designer, so you know, these things occur to her.) Additionally, you can fit them together to build a cake with individual portions ready. Most importantly, in my mind anyway, you get more cupcake. Win.

     The dream of squapcakes, as they were named, remained just that--a dream--for many, many years. But the dream did not die. A few months ago I found a baking pan with squares, but alas, it was too shallow to qualify as a cupcake pan. It was not until a few days ago that I inadvertently stumbled upon another square pan and immediately knew that THIS WAS IT. 

      After years of anticipation, I present you with squapcakes: square cupcakes. These chocolate spice squapcakes with chocolate ganache are lightly adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. They were universally loved and admired at their world debut. The end.

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes

~Print Recipe~ 

Squapcake pan

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tin
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1 1/4 cups flour, plus more for chocolate chips
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more to taste)
  

For the topping

• 6 ounces semi-sweet best quality chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• Candied ginger, finely chopped
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a cupcake or squapcake tin with butter, then dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess. Stir baking soda into the boiling water. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add molasses and baking-soda mixture. Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture and beat until well combined. (The batter will be pretty thin.)
   
3. In a small bowl, lightly coat chocolate chips with flour. Fold chocolate chips into the batter. Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, filling each about halfway. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into the centers comes out clean--about 20 minutes.



Stirring the cream and chocolate for the glaze

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool 15 minutes. Remove from tin and let cool completely. While cupcakes are cooling, finely chop chocolate for the glaze and place in a heat-proof bowl. Place wire rack cooling rack over a baking sheet covered with tin foil.
5. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour mixture over chocolate and let stand, without stirring, until the chocolate begins to melt. Gently stir chocolate and cream until totally combined. Begin near the center of the bowl and gradually work your way toward the edge, pulling in as much chocolate as possible, until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
   
6. Drizzle the chocolate over the cupcakes, letting it run down the sides. Let the glaze set a little, then top with candied ginger.

Makes 12 cupcakes

*Vegan* Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies

Need a last minute valentine treat for a loved one, who happens to be vegan or dairy-free? These festive cookies are quick and easy to make, and you will surely find most of the ingredients in your pantry already. Their spiciness also lend themselves to other winter holidays, such and Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you need a bunch of cookies, double or triple the batch, as they only make a dozen large or 20 small cookies.

What's in it

1/3 C sugar (turbinado or unrefined sugar recommended)

1/2 C dark chocolate chunks (be sure to check they are dairy-free, Nestle typically has milk products in their morsels)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/16 tsp ground allspice

1-2 pinches ground cloves

1 C barley flour (or 1 C minus 2 Tbl all-purpose flour)

3 Tbl cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 C maple syrup

1/4 C + 1 tsp canola oil

How it's made

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

In a small bowl, combine maple syrup and oil. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chunks. Whisk or sift together until well combined and not very clumpy. Add in the chocolate chunks - you can save out some chocolate chunks if you would like to press them on top before baking. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Scoop out rounded tablespoons of batter onto your baking sheet. Press reserved chocolate chunks on top of each cookie. Bake 11 minutes (no more, or else they will get dry!). Cool on pan 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

I used to work for Starbucks in California. In the pastry case, full of terrible-for-you and not-even-that-good-tasting pastries (I guess I would rather have homemade), there was one treat that stood out. A scone. A maple oat nut scone to be exact. This scone had a wonderful maple flavor, was studded with pecans, and iced with a perfectly sweet glaze. So many delicious flavors converging in one little pastry!

But, I moved to Oregon and, alas, the Starbucks in Oregon do not carry the delectable maple oat nut scones. Sad, sad day.

These maple pecan shortbread cookies have been on my to-bake-soon short list ever since I opened my copy of Martha Stewart's Cookies. I've made many wonderful cookies from that book in the intervening years before finally getting around to these. I'm sorry it took me so long.

These cookies knocked the socks off of everyone I've shared them with. They really are a perfect winter cookie. As I've already established, maple and pecans are a natural and particularly tasty pairing. The shortbread here only compliments and highlights these homey and satisfying flavors.

In fact, these taste just like a cookie version of my favorite and now distant scones. These cookies will more than suffice in their absence. I will definitely curl up with a small stack of these and a cup of Starbucks coffee. I will once again know maple pecan bliss. Thanks, Martha!

Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

~Print Recipe~

• 2 3/4 cups flour, plus more for work surface
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, preferably grade B
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 teaspoon pure maple extract
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 24 pecan halves, for decorating
• Turbinado sugar (or regular sugar) for sprinkling

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Whisk in chopped pecans.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth and light, about 1 minute. Add maple syrup, egg yolk and extract. Beat on medium until well combined. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined. The dough should be smooth and pliable. 
3. Turn dough out onto plastic wrap. Flatten into a disk, wrap it up and refrigerate until firm, 1 /2 hours to overnight.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
5. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. (I had to let my dough warm up a little before it would roll out.) Cut out rounds using a 2-inch cookie cutter. (The only cookie cutter I had was heart shaped, though the hearts didn't really turn out in the end.) Place on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with beaten egg and place a pecan half in the center of each cookie. Sprinkle cookies with sugar.
6. Bake cookies, rotating halfway through, until golden around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Makes about 2 dozen