Seitan cupcake w Butternut squash icing & Popcorn crusted brussel sprouts

Last night we made our entry for the PPK Vegan Chopped brunch challenge. The basket ingredients that had to be used were: Butternut Squash, Fresh Rosemary, popcorn, and Apricot Preserves. This is what we came up with.

To make the seitan cupcake:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 2 tb spoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tb spoon chickpea flour
• 1 tb spoon dried minced onion
• 1 cup water
• 1 tea spoon vegetable oil
• 1 tea spoon salt
• 1 tea spoon caraway seeds
• 1/2 tea spoon all spice
• 1/4 tea spoon sage
• 1/4 tea spoon white pepper
• 1/2 tea spoon minced jalipino

Mix all the ingredients together and kneed for 3 minutes.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Grease your muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350. Divide the dough into six muffin cups. Bake for 40 minutes.
 To make the squash puree icing:

• 2 cups cubed butternut squash
• 1 tb spoon olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 tea spoon smoked paprika 
• dash of salt & pepper

Mix the ingredients together and bake covered for 45 minutes at 350. Remove the rosemary. Then add the squash to a blender and puree.  

To make the popcorn crusted brussel sprouts:

• 1 cup pan popped popcorn 
• 2 cups brussel sprouts
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves

First we popped the popcorn in a pan with a little oil. Then grind the popcorn in spice grinder or food processor. Steam the brussel sprouts and allow to cool enough to be able to handle. Dip the brussels in the apricot preserves and then coat in the ground popcorn. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes to brown crust.

To make the apricot cocktail sauce:

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 tea spoon horseradish
• juice of half of a lemon
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 tea spoon chili powder
• 1 cup apricot preserves

This sauce was inspired by the crockpot cocktail weenies you see at parties sometimes where they have just combined a jar of cocktail sauce and a jar of grape jelly.

Mix all the ingredients together and heat on the stove top until warm.