Almost Vegan Clementine Cupcakes

first of all: happy New Year!
how have your first days of 2012 been? for me it involved a lot of digesting: it's incredible the amount of food I was able to fit in my belly on New Year's Eve. and the first. and yesterday. I'm hoping to give my stomach a rest soon, but celebrations keep getting in the way!

just NOT to help with the current too-much-food-situation, I decided to bake some'! seems like the right decision, right? well, I saw this recipe and simply could not resist!

now, I adapted it because: 1) I don't know about you guys, but 12 cupcakes are a lot! I know they get eaten very fast, who would pass on them?, but still! so my recipe calls for 6; and 2) I made it only partly vegan.

I am very very very much tempted to switch to being vegan. I am a vegetarian, who will eat fish from time to time (for health reasons), but my secret wish is to switch to veganism. my parents wouldn't be very happy. they weren't very pleased when my brother was. but we'll see, I'm still young!

anyhow, this is my version of Clementine Cupcakes

ingredients

125g (1 cup) flour

100g (1/2 cup) cane sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp clementine zest (about 2 clementines)

pinch of salt

100 mL (1/2 cup) soy milk

1 egg

1 tbsp applesauce

1 tbsp canola oil

2 clementines, peeled

1 tsp vanilla

directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350ºF) and line or grease a cupcake tin.

2. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, zest, baking powder and salt.

3. Puree the two clementines in a blender until liquified, then pour only two tbsp of the puree into a small bowl and mix it with the egg, milk, applesauce, vanilla and oil.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners- about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I honestly would skip the glaze, but that's up to you: I think it makes the cupcakes a little bit too sweet. I would go ahead and glaze the clementine slices: sprinkle them with some cane sugar and bake them at 200°C (400°F) for about twenty minutes. When they are done (they look dry, the edges fold a little bit upwards and the house smells d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s), top the each cupcake with a slice.

and voilà!