Recipe: Buffalo Cupcakes

 Back in January, I wrote about pastrami cupcakes, a recipe that was inspired by a great cooking blog called Emily Bites. For this week, I needed to make something for lunch.  Usually I make extra of something I am making for dinner, but none of the recipes I chose for this week worked well with making extra, so I decided to make some kind of "cupcake".  Scott originally suggested Thai-inspired cupcakes, but I couldn't really think of anything that would work.  Then I remembered that Emily Bites has made buffalo cupcakes in the past. She uses chicken, and I try to eat vegetarian at lunch, and Laughing Cow blue cheese wedges, which to be honest, kind of gross me out.  I would rather have a little good blue cheese then use something that might not be great.  Plus, a little blue cheese goes a long way flavor-wise.

Buffalo wings are great, but they are not particularly healthy, so this is a great way to get that buffalo flavor fix without the points!

Vegetarian Buffalo Cupcakes
Makes 20 cupcakes, each serving is 2.
8 points for 2 cupcakes

40 wonton wrappers
16 ounces mushrooms
2 bags Gardein chipotle lime "crispy fingers"
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
12 tablespoons buffalo sauce

Prepare the faux chicken according the the package directions.  When cooked, chop into small pieces.  Saute mushrooms in non-stick pan until cooked, then process in a food processor until well chopped.  Mix faux chicken and mushrooms in a large bowl, pour in buffalo sauce and toss to coat.

A perfect, easily portable, lunch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a muffin tin with olive oil spray.  My muffin tin makes 12 muffins, so I did this in two batches.  Push 10 wonton wrappers into the bottom of the muffin tin.  Top with about a tablespoon of mushroom/faux chicken mixture (this will take some estimating.  Just make sure you have enough to do 2 layers in 20 cupcakes.  It may help to separate mixture into quarters.)

Put another wonton wrapper on top of the mixture, then another layer of mushroom/faux chicken.  Top each cupcake with about a half a tablespoon of blue cheese.  Spray the top with more olive oil spray (this helps the wonton parts that are sticking up to brown).  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Let the first batch cool, then do the same thing for the second batch.

This is such a great dish because it reheats and travels well.  This size recipe made enough lunches for two people for the whole work week.