Semi-healthy sweet treats.

Hard to believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already. I hope you enjoyed the holiday and had the opportunity to spend time with friends and loved ones.

One of my favorite aspects of the yearly Thanksgiving festivities is getting the opportunity to share a new vegan/vegetarian recipe with the non-vegan people in my life. Usually, all of the "big ticket meal items" are taken care of by others, and I end up offering to take dessert. This year was no exception.

I learned that there would already be other desserts at dinner. Instead of getting fancy and rather than giving everyone the option of having a sugar overload, I made cupcakes. Simple, delish and small portioned. I'm a fan of Vegetarian Times, and their awesome online compilation of recipes. I am not keen on sweets (especially chocolate), but did enjoy this dessert.

Rather than eggs and milk, this cupcake recipe called for a whole avocado, which kept the cupcakes moist and replaced the saturated fat that eggs, excessive oil, and milk would bring to the table. (Also, I only added a tablespoon of oil, rather than 1/3 of a cup. You could probably use apple sauce or another substitute for the oil enirely.) Yes, the batter looked strange (green), but in the end I couldn't taste the avocado, the color was normal, and no one could tell they weren't made with dairy.

Glazed Chocolate-Avocado Cupcakes

Ingredient List
Makes 12 Cupcakes Cupcakes
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1 cup pure maple syrup
¾ cup plain soymilk
¹⁄3 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract Glaze
¼ block soft silken tofu (from 14-oz. container), drained and patted dry
3 Tbs. pure maple syrup
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¹⁄8 tsp. salt
4 oz. semisweet vegan chocolate, melted

Directions

1. To make Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Purée avocado in food processor until smooth. Add maple syrup, soymilk, oil, and vanilla, and blend until creamy. Whisk avocado mixture into flour mixture.

2. Spoon batter into prepared cupcake cups. Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached. Cool.

3. To make Glaze: Blend tofu, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt in food processor until smooth. Add chocolate to tofu mixture and blend until smooth. Transfer to bowl. Dip tops of Cupcakes into Glaze, pulling straight up from Glaze to form peaks.

Nutritional Information (*Healthier than regular cupcakes, but still not health food!)
Per : Calories: 287, Protein: 4g, Total fat: 12.5g, Saturated fat: 3g, Carbs: 44g, Cholesterol: mg, Sodium: 304mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugars: 24g