50 States of MoFo: Tennessee Teacakes

With today, the 2012 Vegan Month of Food comes to a close.   Before getting to today's recipe, let me reassure any concerned readers that posting here will continue until I have completed all 50 states (plus DC, for which I have a very good idea, if I say so myself).   Daily posting has been kicking my behind, so the remaining 20 will follow slowly, perhaps one or two per week.  Anyone who knows me in real life knows I am stubborn and will most certainly finish. 

As I grew up in Tennessee and live in Nashville, there has been a lot of Tennessee food posted on this blog.   So what should I make for this project?  Tennessee Teacakes (or T-cakes) came to mind.  This little confection is somewhere in the middle of the cupcake-to-brownie range.  If a vanilla cupcake and a butterscotch blondie had a baby, this might be it.  Teacakes became quite popular when a local woman started a business making them, with public praise from former Tennessee resident Oprah.  Unfortunately, this business owner died of cancer last year and her bakery closed.

There are a number of recipes online for Tennessee Teacakes.   As this one is apparently quite close to the Oprah-endorsed variety, I took it as a starting point.  Here's the veganized version:

1 c. all purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
1 c. brown sugar (the vegan organic kind if possible)
1/2 c. vegan margarine (e.g., Earth Balance)
1 T. vanilla
1/4 t. apple cider vinegar
4 oz. vegan cream cheese (storebought or homemade)
3 T. nondairy milk whipped with 1 T. ground flax until gooey

Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

Combine the margarine and brown sugar in a saucepan and cook until melted.  Whisk in the vanilla, vinegar, vegan cream cheese, and milk/flax.  (You could add some vegan butter flavoring if you want to get crazy.)  Gently stir in the dry ingredients, only until combined.

Pour into 12 lined muffin cups.  The cups should be about 1/2 full.  Bake at 350F for about 15-17 minutes.  If in doubt, a toothpick should test clean.  Dust with powdered sugar before serving.   You might want to double the recipe.  We ate half the batch almost immediately.

Back to the larger project...  The remaining states are:  Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming (with a bonus 51st post for the District of Columbia).   If you have suggestions for any of these, please leave them in the comments!