Vegan pistachio cupcakes

These cutie-cute pistachio cupcakes turned out delicious, but just because it's vegan doesn't mean it's good for you! We almost never use junk like instant pudding in our baking, but having discovered that Jello-brand's pistachio instant pudding is accidentally vegan, I was compelled to come up with a recipe incorporating the stuff. I loved pistachio pudding and pistachio ice cream when I was a kid, and these cupcakes retain that strong pistachio [fake] flavor and the weird green color. If the cupcakes still sound good to you (I swear, they taste awesome), here's how I made them.


Vegan pistachio cupcakes

1 1/2 c. flour
1 heaping T baking powder
1 heaping tsp baking soda
3/4 package instant pudding, pistachio flavor (retain the rest to use in the frosting)
1/2 c. canola oil
Energ-G equivalent to 2 eggs
1/2 cup (or more) soy milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the canola oil and Ener-G and mix. Add the soy milk little by little. You may not need the entire 1/2 c. soy milk, or you may need a bit more. Spoon the batter into cupcake pans and bake for 10-15 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

To make the frosting, whip together 1/2 stick soy margarine, 1 c. powdered sugar, the remaining instant pudding mix, and a few T soy milk (as needed). Frost the cupcakes when they're cool. Then go nuts over your pistachio-green cupcakes.