Recipe of the Week: Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe caught our eye not only because it was so easy but because it incorporates two of Who Knew’s go-to ingredients - baking soda and vinegar – rather than eggs and butter. True, we’re usually using these ingredients to clean our house rather than make delicious chocolate cupcakes, but we appreciate Elise, the blogger behind Simply Recipes, for reminding us why we keep baking soda and vinegar in our kitchen.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brewed coffee (or 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablesppons olive oil
frosting or powdered sugar (optional)

How to Make It:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the middle position. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps (cocoa tends to clump up).

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee (or water plus coffee granules), vinegar, vanilla extract, and olive oil.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until they just come together. The mixture should be thin and rather lumpy.

5. Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds of the way full. Place in oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack. Once cool, you can eat plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, or drizzle or coat with frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Do you have an easy recipe to share? Let us know!