Smore Cupcakes

Who doesn't love smores? You cannot go wrong with these amazing chocolate cupcakes with a graham cracker crust and a french meringue frosting. The meringue component is a little labor intensive and may be tricky if you've never done anything like that so you can substitute that with a simple marshmallow fluff frosting. (8 ounces of marshmallow fluff, 3/4 cup softened butter replacement, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla - beat these together and use freely).

For the graham cracker crust, line the muffin tin with the 12 papers, preheat the oven to 350, and get your ingredients together.

3/4 cup crushed graham crackers (about a half a package or 4 graham crackers)
2 tablespoons earth balance butter replacement- melted and slightly cooled
1 tablespoon sugar

Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor until they're finely ground, then add the butter and sugar and combine. Put a tablespoon of the graham cracker mix in the bottom of each muffin paper and press down firmly with something small and round (I used the bottom of my 1/4 cup measure because it's flat on the bottom but you could easily use a shot glass or something). Then bake these for 5 minutes and then remove from the oven to cool.

Then in a large bowl, sift together the following ingredients:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
7/8 cup flour (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3/8 cup cocoa powder (6 tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a medium bowl, whisk together the following ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kahlua

Make a well in the dry ingredients and then (this is important!!) - Put 1/2 cup water on the stove and bring to a boil. Right before it's boiling, pour the wet ingredients into the well and GENTLY FOLD. Then fold in the boiling water. This makes a pretty soupy batter but it does work and it makes the cupcakes very moist - I HATE DRY CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES! Fill each tin 3/4 the way (I used an ice cream scoop because it gives you perfect and even cupcakes).

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Then let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Once they're cool - it's meringue time. There are a few things that can royally screw up meringue. Your mixing bowl for your stand mixer must be clean. If it's not clean, those whites will not whip (say that a few times fast - not easy) and you will have a flat meringue. The second thing is that your egg whites need to be at room temperature. Finally, do not over beat these because then you get this broken mixture that is extremely unappealing. Now that we're done with the disclaimer, let's beat some eggs.

Put 6 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in your stand mixer bowl and place it over a pot of simmering water. Put a candy thermometer into the bowl and constantly stir (not whip) over the heat until the temperature reads 160. Then remove the bowl and put it in the mixer and beat over high heat until you have stiff peaks. Once you're close, pour the vanilla in and stir to combine.

Once they're at stiff peaks and are all shiny and glossy, frost those cupcakes and enjoy.