Vegan hazelnut cupcakes

I've done so much baking this year that come 2014 I'll be a domestic baking goddess! :P

Today was another baking adventure in the kitchen. I absolutely love hazelnuts and so I decided to make hazelnut cupcakes from the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. 

Unfortunately I didn't have any vegan friendly hazelnut liqueur so I just substituted for a dash of almond essence. Still tasty, but I would have loved a stronger hazelnut flavour. I've searched far and wide with no luck finding any of the hazelnut flavouring, but I'm determined to get my hands on some eventually. 

Vegan Hazelnut Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup & 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup hazelnut meal/flour
•  1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup rice milk or nut milk
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract or 1 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur

Directions

1. Line cupcake pan and preheat oven to 180C. In a small bowl, whisk together flaxseed and rice milk. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
2. Add the maple syrup, sugar, canola oil, vanilla, and hazelnut liqueur to the rice milk mixture and beat well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until mostly smooth.
3. Pour into liners, filling them 2/3 of the way.
4. Bake for 22 to 24 min. Give it the old toothpick test. Cool completely on racks. 

The book suggested serving these muffins with raspberry jam. I love raspberry jam and it went perfectly with the muffins :)