Happy St. Paddy's day to all!!
I hope this post finds you enjoying the beautiful weather we're being graced with after the hurricane-of-a-weekend we had just a week ago!
Spring is definitely in the air and I can feel it in my bones. It's that time of year where I start dreaming of the warmer days. I just love this time of year. The promise of 'longer' days is enough to work miracles on my mood!
Here is a quote by Adrienne Cook, which I think is very befitting of the current mood :)
"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic"
Here is a quote by Adrienne Cook, which I think is very befitting of the current mood :)
Today I bring you this wonderful recipe by Comfy Belly for Chocolate Cupcakes made with Coconut flour...This website is one of the few websites I like to go to when I need to whip up something sweet but not dangerous. The author, Erica Kerwien has come up with some really amazing "keeper" recipes. I just keep going back for more.
In the spirit of St. Paddy's, I am presenting these cupcakes with a twist...What better way to celebrate the day than to indulge in some cupcake love?!
Now, now, before you start getting your panties in a twist at the notion of the sugar-highs (and subsequent sugar-crashes) associated with cupcakes, I can assure you from now that these little ones are anything but deadly sins.
I like to call them "yummy-in-my-tummy-(almost)-guilt-free-cupcakes".
They are not entirely guilt-free (hence, the almost). But they come very close. They are made with coconut flour, so no wheat, no gluten. There is no milk in the cupcake recipe itself (there is a dairy product in the frosting/topping though). And to top it off there is none of the highly processed white stuff (aka sugar). Agave syrup was the sweetener of choice. More on that later. They do have eggs in them, but I'm working on figuring out if I can omit/lessen the amount of these some day (not that I have anything against eggs - i love 'em!)
In the spirit of St. Paddy's, I am presenting these cupcakes with a twist...What better way to celebrate the day than to indulge in some cupcake love?!
I like to call them "yummy-in-my-tummy-(almost)-guilt-free-cupcakes".
They are not entirely guilt-free (hence, the almost). But they come very close. They are made with coconut flour, so no wheat, no gluten. There is no milk in the cupcake recipe itself (there is a dairy product in the frosting/topping though). And to top it off there is none of the highly processed white stuff (aka sugar). Agave syrup was the sweetener of choice. More on that later. They do have eggs in them, but I'm working on figuring out if I can omit/lessen the amount of these some day (not that I have anything against eggs - i love 'em!)
I've never been much of an art's and craft's person. Art classes at school used to send me in fits of panic as a child because I've just never been creative that way! However, yesterday I came across this wonderful website and I convinced myself that I could probably get these right :)
At Queen of DIY, you will find step by step instructions on how to shape your cupcakes into little clovers. I'm telling you I had such a blast making them! All you need is aluminium foil and scissors and a little bit of time on your hands.
As for the frosting for these cupcakes, I wanted to opt for a healthy one of course. I confess that I've never been one for cupcake frostings and I know that many believe that a cupcake is not a cupcake without the frosting. But I tend to find cupcake frosting quite intimidating - to prepare as well as to eat! I just don't like the extreme sugary-ness of most cupcake frostings, so anyway, I googled "healty cupcake frostings" and of course I got re-directed to Peter G's recipe for Greek Yoghurt Topping at Souvlaki for the Soul. This guy is a genious in my eyes!
I wanted to (almost) cry from happiness!!! I could finally present cupcakes with a healthy frosting to my friends and family :) YEY TRIPLE YEY!
Greek yoghurt is such a versatile ingredient. It can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes and with its luscious thickness it lends a beautiful creamy texture wherever and whenever you decide to use it. For this recipe, I chose to sweeten with just a bit of honey. The original recipe calls for icing sugar but I found honey to act as a good thickener as well, in addition to being a healthier alternative. For the sake of St. Patrick's Day I decided to use a bit of food colouring (green of course!) - I had never bought food colouring before, but I decided that this was a worthy cause ;) I also used freshly chopped up pistachios to finish off my VERY first attempt at decorating cupcakes!
On a final note, before I pass you on the recipes, I would like to extend a big "Happy St. Patty!!" shout- out to my very very good friend Patrick Mifsud, a Maltese artist currently based in London. Check out his website here. I sooooooo wish I could go see his current exhibition!! (sob, sob).
here goes :)
Cupcake Recipe
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Baking time: not more than 20 minutes at 180 degrees celcius
Ingredients:
In a mixing bowl,combine dry ingredients well (coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sea salt). Add eggs and honey and use a stick blender or standing mixer so that you make sure that there are no clumps of coconut flour or cocoa powder. You need to get a really smooth mixture. It might seem a bit runny but it's totally okay if it's like this.
Prepare your cupcake liners -i searched high and low for some green ones - and failed miserably!
Fill them half-way through with your cupcake batter. If you are going to add chocolate chips add them now, this way they will not sink to bottom of cupcakes.
Now, if you're going for the St. Patty theme, click here for instructions.
Bake for around 15-20 minutes, but stay close-by and check if cupcakes are done by inserting a toothpick. When it comes out clean, you know your little ones are done from the oven.
Cool your cupcakes and proceed to either stuffing your face with them (as we always tend to do over here) or go on to prepare your frosting :)
Recipe for cupcake frosting/topping
Preparation time: Not more than 15 minutes
Ingredients:
At Queen of DIY, you will find step by step instructions on how to shape your cupcakes into little clovers. I'm telling you I had such a blast making them! All you need is aluminium foil and scissors and a little bit of time on your hands.
As for the frosting for these cupcakes, I wanted to opt for a healthy one of course. I confess that I've never been one for cupcake frostings and I know that many believe that a cupcake is not a cupcake without the frosting. But I tend to find cupcake frosting quite intimidating - to prepare as well as to eat! I just don't like the extreme sugary-ness of most cupcake frostings, so anyway, I googled "healty cupcake frostings" and of course I got re-directed to Peter G's recipe for Greek Yoghurt Topping at Souvlaki for the Soul. This guy is a genious in my eyes!
I wanted to (almost) cry from happiness!!! I could finally present cupcakes with a healthy frosting to my friends and family :) YEY TRIPLE YEY!
Greek yoghurt is such a versatile ingredient. It can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes and with its luscious thickness it lends a beautiful creamy texture wherever and whenever you decide to use it. For this recipe, I chose to sweeten with just a bit of honey. The original recipe calls for icing sugar but I found honey to act as a good thickener as well, in addition to being a healthier alternative. For the sake of St. Patrick's Day I decided to use a bit of food colouring (green of course!) - I had never bought food colouring before, but I decided that this was a worthy cause ;) I also used freshly chopped up pistachios to finish off my VERY first attempt at decorating cupcakes!
On a final note, before I pass you on the recipes, I would like to extend a big "Happy St. Patty!!" shout- out to my very very good friend Patrick Mifsud, a Maltese artist currently based in London. Check out his website here. I sooooooo wish I could go see his current exhibition!! (sob, sob).
here goes :)
Cupcake Recipe
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Baking time: not more than 20 minutes at 180 degrees celcius
Ingredients:
- 28 g (1/4 cup) coconut flour
- 28 g (1/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 161 g (1/2 cup) honey
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 eggs
- chocolate chips (amount depends on how much of a choc-addict you are!)
In a mixing bowl,combine dry ingredients well (coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sea salt). Add eggs and honey and use a stick blender or standing mixer so that you make sure that there are no clumps of coconut flour or cocoa powder. You need to get a really smooth mixture. It might seem a bit runny but it's totally okay if it's like this.
Prepare your cupcake liners -i searched high and low for some green ones - and failed miserably!
Fill them half-way through with your cupcake batter. If you are going to add chocolate chips add them now, this way they will not sink to bottom of cupcakes.
Now, if you're going for the St. Patty theme, click here for instructions.
Bake for around 15-20 minutes, but stay close-by and check if cupcakes are done by inserting a toothpick. When it comes out clean, you know your little ones are done from the oven.
Cool your cupcakes and proceed to either stuffing your face with them (as we always tend to do over here) or go on to prepare your frosting :)
Recipe for cupcake frosting/topping
Preparation time: Not more than 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 100g good quality Greek yoghurt (I chose the "full-fat" (5% fat) version this time round)
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 capful of vanilla essence
- 1/3 tsp green food colouring
- freshly chopped pistachios
In a small mixing bowl, mix together the greek yoghurt, honey, vanilla essence and food colouring. The mixture will be a nice pastel mint colour. Instructions on the food colouring bottle say that you should not exceed using more than 1 teaspoon of colouring per 250g of icing sugar so I was quite careful with this :)
Next step is to chill your frosting/topping so that the mixture firms up a bit once again. I'd say chill for an hour or two.
Make sure your cupcakes are totally cool before spreading your topping, otherwise you will end up with a runny mess!
If like me you like pistachios, flick some of the freshly chopped stuff on the topping, for some added green effect!
Keep your cupcakes refridgerated once you have spread the topping, and if I were you I'd add the topping just before consuming them instead of decorating much in advance :)
EnjoY !!!
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