Thursday, December 20, 2012

What Pinterest does to me

its no secret. i'm a pinterest fiend. love at first site (i seriously just realized the pun on my second read-through…). gone are the days when i find interesting sites and recipes and ideas and have to create folders in my browser to bookmark them in – only to realize that after my computer crashes, my long and winding list of to-do-in-the-future has been wiped clean. thank you, pinterest, for housing my to-do list.

pinterest really is a great site to garner interest from. i probably tag food ideas the most, anything from mouth-watering chocolate pakoras to red velvet cheeseballs and blackberry smash & cheese sandwiches. but a recent find got me thinking (and believing) that just about anything can be made into a dessert. just. about. anything.

i found THIS thing of beauty on pinterest a while back: stuffed baked sweet potatoes with goat cheese, honey, and roasted grapes. roasted. grapes.

i had never heard of such a divine being as roasted grapes but this more sweet than savory combo screamed to be packed into a cupcake. the sister’s birthday was the perfect opportunity to try it out. lucky for me, she was willing to be experimented on. this could have been truly terrible.

but it wasn’t:

Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG-005

i had a can of sweet potato puree left over from last year when i made vegan cupcakes for the fam. i decided to use the same base cupcake recipe and focus on topping it with the stuffings from the original recipe. this recipe isn’t for the faint of heart, so try it if you dare – it is an unusual combination that confuses your palate for a brief second before sending  a tingly feeling down your throat and into your belly. really.

sweet potato cupcakes with honey & goat cheese frosting, topped with roasted grapes 
(makes 24 regular cupcakes)Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG-006

1 batch of 24 vegan sweet potato cupcakes
2 lbs red or black grapes (i’d have preferred red, but sister loves black)
oil, salt, pepper
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese
1 8-oz package of plain goat cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup honey

  1. first and foremost, make sure to use cupcake wrappers that have grapes on them. it makes all the difference. (really it does – see these strawberry beauties if you need more convincing).
  2. okay, NEXT: wash and dry the grapes. sprinkle them them with a touch of salt, dash of pepper, and a few teaspoons of oil (grape seed oil would be the obvious fancy choice, but i just spritzed mine with canola). toss to combine.
  3. spread the grapes out in an even layer across a foil-lined baking pan and roast at 450F for 20-25 minutes, until the grapes start to pop and prune and the juices call your name. remove from oven and allow to cool completely. then taste one.
  4. to prepare the frosting, mix together the cream cheese and goat cheese in a stand mixer.
  5. slowly add in the the powdered sugar, and whip till combined. you can add more sugar per your taste, but i like the tartness the goat cheese adds.
  6. top the cooled cupcakes with a generous dollop of frosting, creating a well in the center so that your grapes sit pretty.
  7. divide the grapes and place them on top of your frosted cakes. drizzle generously with honey.
  8. devour. don’t think twice.

Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG-007

make cupcakes. roast grapes. whip frosting. assemble. pretty darn easy.

Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG-003

Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG-001

Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG-004

 Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Grape Cupcakes - BTG

even though its over a month late – happy 21 birthday baby sister!

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