So, Libertarian Boyfriend and I have been cooking up a storm lately. It’s partially due to our incredibly tight budget, but mostly due to the fact that the majority of prepared foods are overpriced garbage that you can easily make yourself if you’re willing to put in a tiny bit more work. I’d rather not risk getting the diabetes at 40, so I’m more than willing to put in the tiny bit more work to eat food that isn’t laden with HFCS (which tastes like syrupy vomit, if you ask me). Since one of the holdovers from my vegan days is my way diminished tolerance for HFCS and Libertarian Boyfriend does not want to become Fat Libertarian Boyfriend, we will probably continue to spend an hour in the kitchen every night even after we both are working to avoid a million preservatives and HFCS in every thing we inhale. (Though, for the record, I keep trying to talk him into picking up a pouch of Super Seasoning! every time we hit the Asian supermarket, because it makes everything 10X more delicious. That shit is better than pot!)

Anyway, back to the point of this post. We’ve been cooking up a storm. I have specifically been baking a lot, mainly cupcakes and cookies (which are great when there are people over because I can wolf some down while still pawning a lot off on friends, thereby lessening the chances that I will kill two dozen chocolate chip cookies on my own). All the baking led us to our experiment at hand. Currently, we have two mason jars about halfway filled with what will (hopefully!) become about a cup of coffee extract and two cups (?) of coconut extract, which will then be used for Coconut Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream icing. I’ve wanted to make them ever since I bought Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but haven’t had the coconut extract or the coffee extract, which are pretty crucial ingredients for this recipe. (For the record, you should definitely buy this cookbook, even if you aren’t vegan. I gave up veganism a little over a year ago and this book is still my main cupcake cookbook. Even Libertarian Boyfriend – who loves meat and dairy and told me he would have harassed me nonstop if I was still vegan when we started doing our thing – loves these jawns. If that isn’t an excellent testimonial, I don’t know what is.) Since we bought a coconut the other day, we decided to reserve 2/3 cup of meat to attempt making extract.

So far, so good. The coffee extract is really dark and pretty much looks like super concentrated coffee. Tomorrow, I will have to strain out the coffee and will better be able to judge whether or not it came out right. The coconut appears to be leaching into the vodka pretty well, making it cloudy looking right now. We won’t know about the coconut for a few days (not supposed to strain for about 3-5 more days). Before making the cupcakes, I think I’m going to do test runs of them in brownies or possibly chocolate cupcakes. Actually, I’m fearing that the coconut will be a super delicate, subtle flavor and might need to go in banana or pineapple cupcakes, which I would imagine might compliment a lighter flavor. (Luckily, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World has both Banana Split and Pineapple Rightside Up cupcakes, as well! I swear, I’m not a cookbook shill, this is just an awesome fucking cookbook and should be used by everyone in the world. Not playin.)

In the meantime, I’m going to sit down with a tablespoon each of my freshly made cashew butter and Dulce de Leche (which I’m pretty sure is Spanish for “most bangingest caramel deliciousness to grace God’s green Earth. And yes, before you jump my shit, I realize I used “God.” I’m allowed to use dramatic figures of speech once in awhile). I will be certain to update about the Great Extract Experiment and whether or not it was successful.

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