Celebrate the little things

Well, I made it through Norogeddon; my bout of the Norovirus that gave me the worst stomach flu I have experienced!  Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time off work.  Near the end I was going a little stir crazy.  I hadn't eaten in 4 days!  But that's enough about that.

My living room is clean! For a while now I haven't been able to decide how to get the room in order.  I like how it turned out.  D and I bought a new arm chair for me to work in, and I love it! I sit in it all the time to read, and crochet and sit!  Behind the couch there is my desk where I do my crafting. 
 
Because I'm feeling better, and the living room is looking better, I wanted to celebrate!

I made cupcakes! Not just any cupcakes, D and my favorite, chocolate cupcakes with peanut buttercream icing.  The recipe I use is a mash up of a bunch of cake recipes I know.  I needed to substitute some things since I didn't have any eggs.  But these cupcakes turned out AWESOME.  So I will share:

Stephanie's PB and Chocolate cupcakes

Cupcakes ingredients:

1 cup milk (or soy milk and these cupcakes are vegan!)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/3 cup of cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.  I don't use liners, so I spray the pans.

Whisk together the milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.  Add the vanilla, sugar and oil.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring so no large lumps remain.

Bake in the oven for 18 to 22 minutes until cake tester comes out clean.  Let cool before icing.

Peanut Buttercream Icing:

1/4 cup of butter or margerine
2 Tbsp of vegetable shortening
1/3 cup of peanut butter
1 Tbsp of molasses
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup of icing sugar
1 Tbsp milk

Using an electric mixer, beat together butter, shortening, and peanut butter until smooth.  Add molasses and vanilla.  Beat in icing sugar, and use milk to thin out the icing if it gets too stiff.  This recipe make a lot of icing.  I sometimes like to pile it high on the cupcakes.  Sometimes, I pipe it on nicely, and then I'm left with extra.  I save it for D.

Yum.