Spooky Spider Double Chocolate Cupcakes

For the record, I am tremendously afraid of spiders. Nothing will send me closer to the clinical definition of a panic attack than the sight of a spider strolling across our kitchen floor, and more than once Zach has had to talk me through "spider removal" over the phone, complete with me hyperventilating and shrieking "Help! Help!" at frequent intervals.

However, on Halloween night, I wasn't the least bit afraid of these spiders...

Spooky Spider Double Chocolate Cupcakes

*For the Double Chocolate Cupcakes*
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup honey
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites
2/3 cup dark (at least 60% cacao) chocolate chips

*For the Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream*
2 cups creamy peanut butter
Confectioners sugar "to taste"
Vanilla Soymilk, as needed (probably approx 2 T, depending on the moisture in the air)
Cocoa powder to taste

*For decorating the cupcakes*
White chocolate chips
Cherry liquorish sticks, such as Twizzlers (the kind that can be pulled into strings like string cheese!)

~ To start by making the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line approx 10 muffin cups with paper liners or cooking spray.
~ Stir together the dry ingredients (the whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt), and set them aside.
~ Whisk together the honey, applesauce, vanilla, and egg whites until well blended and frothy.
~ Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until just combined.
~ Fold in the chocolate chips.
~ Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling them 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool.

~ To make the frosting, beat the peanut butter with an electric mixer while adding confectioners sugar and little bits of vanilla soymilk (I add around a T of vanilla soymilk at a time while scooping in big spoonfuls of the confectioners sugar) until the desired thickness and fluffiness is achieved. The amounts of confectioners sugar and soymilk added can vary quite a bit depending on the brand of peanut butter you're using, how humid your geographical location can be, and your personal tastes in frosting. Once you've achieved the frosting texture you fancy, add cocoa powder to taste, depending on how much chocolateyness you desire.

~ Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them, then decorate with white chocolate chips for eyes and liquorish strings for legs! :-)