Summer Loving.

Happy Thursday y'all! 

Yes, it's almost Friday and tomorrow is going to be an extremely busy day for me! Moving day! So much to think about and so much to do. But that's neither here nor there. Let's talk about the approach of summer...much more fun, right? All I can think about are back yard barbecue's with my family where the young kids sip on glasses of sweet ice tea, and the adults throw back a few...well, not iced teas, and we engage in good conversation while we tear into a full plate of juicy smoked pork ribs, tater salad, and the best part, a huge chunk of corn bread. 

Cornbread is the way to my heart, which is ironic, because I absolutely loathe corn, but serve me a huge chunk of cornbread with a nice slab of butter on top and I am sold! Give me a bowl of chili and I will probably take you to the alter and marry you...definitely. So, yesterday, as I was thinking about this looming cornbread situation in my head, I decided to put those thoughts to good use. 

These absolutely blew my mind. My mom was my first taste-tester and she was absolutely ate up with how good these babies are. Then, my cousin stopped buy and he has a tape worm living inside him so nothing gets past him. He said the bread needed to be sandwiched over some barbecue. Winner winner, cornbread dinner. I had one dilemma though...

this looks like cornbread muffin batter, no?

Well, they could definitely be cornbread muffins, that is...

if I didn't have to go ahead and make a honey goat cheese and mascarpone frosting to go on top of them.

Oh, I totally did.

 Best move ever.

Tid-bit...they would have been vegan, all the way up until I slathered them with that creamy, tangy, yet sweet frosting. 

I'm not complaining.

 So, yea...I am calling them cupcakes. Oh, and I put a bit of mashed sweet potato in them.

 So, yes...sweet potato cornbread cupcakes...but you can call them muffins if you like.

If that makes you feel better. 

Just make sure you have a slab of pork ribs nearby and a bottle of barbecue sauce on hand. Maybe a glass of wine...or five. Maybe.

Almost Vegan Sweet Potato Cornbread Cupcakes with Honey Goat Cheese and Mascarpone Frosting (GF):

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

1 small sweet potato

1 t. pure vanilla extract

3/4 c. Greek yogurt

3/4 c. coconut milk (I used light, but full-fat would work as well)

4 T. melted Vegan butter (or regular butter)

1/2 c. almond milk

1 1/4 c. cornmeal

1/2 c. almond flour

1/3 c. granulated sugar

2 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

For the frosting:

8 oz. container Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

4 oz. plain goat cheese, at room temperature

1/4 c. honey

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Wrap the sweet potato in foil and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or just until tender and can be pierced with a fork. Allow the sweet potato to cool completely.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mash the inside of the sweet potato. Mix in the vanilla extract, yogurt, coconut milk, butter, and almond milk. 

3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, almond flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

5. Lower the temperature on the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 muffins cups with cupcake liners.

6. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full with the cupcake batter. 

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of each cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

8. To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the mascarpone until creamy, stop the mixer and add the goat cheese, beat again until smooth. Then, add the honey, and beat again.

9. Frost each cupcake using a pastry bag or spatula. 

10. DEVOUR!

Makes 8 large cupcakes.

MANGIA!!!