Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays. My sister and I were VERY into dress up (especially Renaissance and other time-period costumes) growing up – we even had a dress up closet that consisted of giant bins of fanciful dresses and capes and scarves and wigs and suspenders with which to enrobe ourselves for various make believe games and mock-plays. Stepping into the outerwear of some other character not only allowed us to feed our wild imaginations, but also to inspect various aspects of ourselves. We would heighten our silliness or breathe life into our anger or ambition and create characters flooded with those magnified bits of our own personalities. This love continued into high school and the annual fall, winter, and spring plays and musicals that captivated audiences of our teenage peers and let us, once again, give light to the selves that we sometimes wished we could be (though, after exiting stage right for the final time each night, we’d be glad to be in our own self again).
So here we are, nearly a decade later and still excited for Halloween – a holiday overtly celebrated by our entire hometown (Ashland, Oregon), with a lavish Halloween parade that toddlers, teens, parents, and grandparents turn out for, bedecked with gorgeous creations for fairies, Shakespearean protagonists (Ashland is known for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival), knights, political caricatures, storybook heroes, or live memes. This year will be quite different – presuming there will be no down-town-plaza-packing parade to look forward to, or the music and festivities that follow. But Kendra, the younger half of Sisters Sans Gluten, already has the house decorations up and is eagerly planning her costume, even if it’ll only be seen by our family on a spooky skype session. This year, especially, it seems important to dress up and let imaginations run wild as we inhabit, for a night, characters that aren’t a part of this pandemic-stricken world.
So, have a great Halloween, and make something fun, like these gluten free hi hat cupcakes! Don’t worry, I also had to look up what the heck hi hat cupcakes were – they’re what you see below: chocolate cupcakes topped with homemade marshmallow fluff, dunked in more chocolate. Can’t go wrong there. Heck, you can even use these little Halloween royal icing sprinkles made by the one and only Sprinkle Robot (check her out there or here on her Instagram!). Here’s to making fun, spooky treats and supporting small businesses while you’re at it! If you’re into marshmallow, try our s’mores cupcakes (complete with graham cracker crust!), and if you’re into fall treats, try these pumpkin spice madeleines or pumpkin chocolate chip bundt covered in chocolate ganache!
Gluten Free Hi Hat Cupcakes
Equipment
- Cupcake pans
- Electric mixer
- Candy thermometer
- Medium saucepan
- Piping bag
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 2 Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum included (if the mix doesn't have xanthan gum, add 1 tsp of xanthann gum)
- 1 3/4 Cups white sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 Cup dutched cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Cup sour cream
- 3/4 Cup canola oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Cup piping hot coffee
For the marshmallow fluff:
- 2/3 Cup water
- 1 1/2 Cups white sugar
- 1 1/2 Cups light corn syrup
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 6 large egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the chocolate shell:
- 2 Cups semisweet chocolate
- 3 Tbsp canola oil
Instructions
To make the cupcakes:
- Make the cupcakes! Preheat the oven to 300° F and grease two 12-cupcake pans with either butter or cooking spray, or line with paper cupcake cups. In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry cupcake ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt), and whisk to combine.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, canola oil, and vanilla extract until fully blended and creamy. Once combined, add in the dry ingredients and use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix. Fun step! Poor in that cup of piping hot coffee and stir until fully combined (it’ll take some working). Pour batter into the cupcake pans (each one should be about 2/3-3/4 full) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.
To make the marshmallow fluff:
- In a small saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup and sugar over medium heat. Stir occasionally until all of the sugar dissolves, and then stop stirring immediately and let simmer (turn down to med-low heat). Insert your candy thermometer to check temp – this will take 5-10 minutes. Let the mixture simmer (do NOT stir it) until it reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit (softball stage). While the mixture is cooking, make the meringue.
- In a large, perfectly clean, dry bowl, begin beating your room temp egg whites with your electric mixer. If there is any oil or crumbs in the bowl or any drop of egg yolk, the egg whites will not get stiff, so make sure all implements are clean and dry and the egg whites are carefully separated. Beat egg whites until foamy and then add in the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Let sit until your sugar mixture has reached softball stage.
- Once the sugar syrup is at 240 degrees, immediately turn off heat, and, using heat pads (or a friend to help!), start beating egg whites again and slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture into the egg whites. Beat constantly until all of the sugar mixture has been added (pour in a slow stream, do not dump it in). Do not stop beating the egg whites! Continue to beat after all the sugar syrup has been added, until the bowl is back to room temperature (it will be very hot after adding the syrup). You can add a bag of frozen peas under the bowl or on the side to help cool the bowl as you beat the mixture. This will take 10 or so minutes, so be patient. As the bowl cools, the mixture will become thicker and stiffer and stickier as the marshmallow forms!
- Once the bowl is room temp, you can stop beating the marshmallow. Scoop it into a piping bag and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes, then let sit for at least 5 minutes before dunking in chocolate shell.
To make the chocolate shell:
- Combine the chocolate and canola oil in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 45 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until chocolate is totally melted and combined with the oil. Let chocolate cool for five minutes before dunking cupcakes. Then, take one cupcake at a time, holding by the bottom of the cupcake, turn upside down and dunk in the chocolate, letting the chocolate drip for a few seconds before turning right side up and placing on a tray. Immediately freeze cupcakes for at least 15 minutes or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set chocolate, then serve!
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cupcakes!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
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