Personally, I’m a big fan of incorporating savoury herbs into dessert (strawberry-basil, lemon-thyme, apple and sage, so many possibilities! I even had a whole themed month about it, so if you’re interested, check out one (or all!) of these posts – rosemary, basil, dill (surprisingly my favourite tasting of the 4) or oregano).
In trying to come up with a way to use up some more of my chocolate cookie dough bites from a few weeks ago (see this post), and the weather at least pretending to be more seasonal, I started trying to think of a way of somehow combining those bites with herbs. Which herb to use though? What goes best with the flavours of cookie dough? After spending hours contemplating all the possibilities, I went to the store with a clear goal in mind….pick out the freshest looking herb available at that moment and use that, hoping that it’s not the worst combo ever 😉 (which turned out to be rosemary. This likely would’ve ended badly if chives had looked the best…although maybe not? If cilantro looked the best, given my supreme hate of incorporating soap flavour into my food, I would’ve opted for the second best looking herb 😉 ). Have I mentioned how much pre-planning I always, always do before baking? Planning is the most important step here people – if you try to just fly by the seat of your pants, all you’ll end up with is a sore butt (wise words Amber, you are a true “sage” for the ages 😉 ).
I personally quite enjoyed them. Kevin liked them for what they were, but I don’t think he’s as big a fan of incorporating an herbaceous element into to his desserts. However, even if you’re not all into that aspect, you can a) feel free to just omit the rosemary from this whole situation and perhaps just toss in some cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cloves perhaps? Or add a a teaspoon of a flavoured extract that floats your boat (I’m a big fan of maple, but you do you). b) Even if you’re not feelin’ the cupcakes, make the icing. I always use up my leftover icing in coffee, and even though it left little crunchy bits of pecan pieces in the bottom of my mug, it was delicious. Mmmmm….pecan studded coffee (say that last sentence in Homer Simpson drooling voice).
Full Disclosure, this is not my picture at all, but it definitely gives the idea of how I felt my coffee tasted:
Mmmmmmm…. I made one with a half and half mix of coffee and cashew milk and stirred some of this icing in. Homemade pecan pie latte. Way better (and faster) than anything Starbucks can produce (in my opinion anyway. But I’m all biased like that 😉 ).
I realize looking at these photos now that these are completely unseasonal of me. Red and green cupcake liners and the sprig of rosemary that basically looks like a pine tree? “Amber” I can hear you saying, “I’ve heard you wax poetic on numerous occasions (aka every minute of every day in the winter…it’s tiresome really, how do other people put up with you? Your winter complaining is so excessive that it makes me want to scream my rage about it while standing near a snow covered mountain, thus causing an avalanche that would ideally bury you in an icy cold snowdrift.” Wow dear blog reader, that was harsh 🙁 Why don’t you tell me how you really feel 😉 ) about how much you despise winter, so you’d think you’d avoid it all costs when it’s not actually winter.” To you, all I can say is…just…just…SHUT UP OK? It’s not wintery! It’s…ummm….it’s a palm tree, and the icing on top of the cupcakes are reminiscent/ representative of a sandy beach. The blue liners? Ocean waves. Red liners?…..uhhhh…..Sunburns!!! (*fist pump* I did it – I just turned winter into summer in a few simple sentences. If only that worked in real life 🙁 ).
Don’t you just love the visual of the melty bits of cookie dough? Yeah, you work it cupcake. I just want to see you slowly peel off that Amish-esque covering cupcake liner and show me what you look like all naked as the day you were born (aka 30 minutes before these photos were taken). Hmmm…did that just get a little too pornographic? Does my blog now need an R rating and some kind of disclaimer? Perhaps, but I’m a rebel and will do no such thing.
These cupcakes are definitely risqué. They may perhaps not be the kind you want to (rose)mary and bring home to your über conservative family, but they’re always there for you and up for a good time on a Friday night when you want to let down your hair and live a little. You know you want to make these – in the words of Nike, just (cookie)dough it (that’s their slogan right? 😉 )
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 3/4 cups pastry flour (or AP is OK too, I just prefer pastry flour for cake and cupcakes. Trust me when I say it really does make a difference)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegan butter room temperature (i.e. slightly softened)
- 1 egg replacer (feel free to sub out the water you’d normally use with crème de cacao)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract (optional)
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 cup cookie dough bites (recipe found here or use your favourite)
Pecan Frosting:
- 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 cup toasted and finely chopped pecans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325F (170C)
- Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
- In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg replacer, vanilla and hazelnut extracts and beat until fully combined.
- In a couple of batches, alternate mixing in the non-dairy milk and flour mixture. Be careful not to over mix.
- Fold in rosemary and cookie dough bites.
- Divide the batter evenly among your prepared cupcake liners (Fill them about 2/3 to 3/4 full). Bake about 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- While you’re cupcakes are baking, make the pecan frosting by beating together in a small bowl the cream cheese, butter, coconut oil and vanilla until smoothly combine. Slowly beat in the icing sugar until spreadable consistency is achieved. Stir in the pecans.
- Once cupcakes are fully cooled, frost cupcakes.
- Store in the refrigerator.
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