Watermelon "cupcakes" & Watermelon sparklers

I found a new blogsite to day called Tofu and Cupcakes. Well, you know that anything that mentions cupcakes catches my eye.

I am not vegan however I am often interested in vegan food. So, I thought I'd stop by and see what vegan dishes and cupcake treats might be in store.

What interested me first was a post that offered a couple recipes involving one of my all time favorite foods...watermelon!

Note: ALL PHOTOS BELOW ARE FROM TOFU AND CUPCAKES



Watermelon makes me happy. How about you?

Watermelon season seems to be over but I don't care. I'm going to post this anyway.

The first recipe is called Watermelon Mint Sparklers. Now I'm not the biggest fan of mint but I'm thinking I might give this a try. And if I don't like it I can alter the mint with something else.

The recipe calls for alcohol but I am glad that the author of Tofu and Cupcake posted a non-alcoholic substitute.



Watermelon Mint Sparklers
Adapted from the Bi-Lo Celebrations Magazine Spring/Summer 2008

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
12 cups seeded and cubed watermelon
Turbinado sugar or Colored sugar, for decoration
4 1/2 Cups chilled Champagne, Prosecco or other sparkling wine
about 2/3 -1 cup vodka or flavored vodka

1. In a small heavy saucepan, combine granulated sugar, 1 cup water, and 1/4 cup mint leaves. Bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, cool completely (about 1 hour). Pour simple syrup through a wire mesh strainer into a bowl. Discard mint.
2. In a blender puree watermelon, in batches until liquefied. Pour juice through a fine wire mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon. Discard solids. Combine watermelon juice and simple syrup. Store in refrigerator if not serving immediately.
3. For each beverage, first dip rim of glass in water, then coat with turbinado or colored sugar, if desired. Mix 1 cup watermelon mixture with 1/2 cup sparkling wine and a splash of vodka, over ice and garnish with mint sprigs, if desired.

*For a non-alcoholic version replace sparkling wine with sparkling water, club soda or Sprite and leave out the vodka.

I think adding the crystalized sugar is important. I love anything that resembles glitter so why not?

The second recipe is a Watermelon “Cupcake.” In other words it's not a real cupcake.



The author of this post, posted her comments in red. I decided to leave them here.

Watermelon Cupcakes
Recipe from The National Watermelon Promotion Board

8 cupcake liners
8 cupcake shaped pieces of seedless watermelon, (see below)
2 cups pineapple cream cheese frosting How about just whipped cream? or flavored whipped cream, or whatever your favorite frosting is would probably be fine
Sprinkles for garnish

Place 8 baking liners in an 8-cup cupcake tin. Cut 3-inch thick slices of seedless watermelon. Cut round cupcake sized pieces from the slices I suggest using a fluted biscuit cutter, but I bet you could use a round biscuit cutter, round cookie cutter or even a flower-shaped cookie cutter. Put a watermelon ‘cupcake’ in each liner. Place a dollop of frosting on each cupcake. Decorate as desired with sprinkles. Serves 8.

Not bad ay?

For more recipes check out Tofu and Cupcakes.