Spider Cupcakes for Any Celebrations - Egg-free, Dairy-free & Nut-free

Today is my son's 8th birthday and I almost forgot!  We have been celebrating his special day in one form or another since Friday afternoon!!  You can imagine my HORROR this morning when I realized I had forgotten to make his birthday cupcakes for school! 

Egg-free, Nut-free, Dairy-free cupcakes from Smart Allergy Friendly Education

Thanks to my standby Zebra Cupcakes recipe, and a few tweeks, I was able to throw together these awesome Spider Cupcakes for his special day!!




 Here's all you need:

1.  Betty Crocker Cinnamon Imperials (I even called the toll-free number from the store to make sure they were Milk-Free and NUT-FREE!)
2.  Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips - FREE of top 8 allergens
3.  Pillsbury Icing - I used Creamy Supreme Cream Cheese (haven't found one of their icings yet which isn't egg-free, nut-free and dairy-free.
4.  Low fat Cherry Twizzlers (have been eating these for years).
5.  An egg-free, nut-free, dairy-free recipe!  Listed below~ 

Today, I omitted the cocoa!



ZEBRA CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

2 C sugar

2 C whole flour

1 C whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

*3 T to a 1/4 C cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened (adapt to your chocolate preference)

2 T vinegar, cider

2 tsp vanilla extract

¾ C oil (canola, vegetable, or corn)

2 C water

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix all dry ingredients, except cocoa.
2. Combine wet ingredients and mix together well.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients (not cocoa); mix together for 2 minutes.
4. Divide mixture, putting 2/3 in a separate bowl.
5. Add cocoa to smaller mixture portion; you now have vanilla & chocolate options.
6. Fill cupcake pans halfway with vanilla.
7. Add 1 to 1 1/2 T of chocolate mixture to each cupcake.
8. With a toothpick, lightly swirl vanilla and chocolate together.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 -20 minutes (maybe a little longer at higher altitudes) or until toothpick comes out of center of cooked cupcakes clean.

*If you want to make ALL cupcakes chocolate, use 3/8 C of cocoa; When combining all dry ingredients, add this into the mixture at the same time.

Makes 24 cupcakes