Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Guitar Playing

A Hankering for some chocolate and peanut butter


I love making healthy tasty treats for my kiddos. Things that I don't feel guilty giving them before dinner. Because we all know dessert tastes better before dinner. I am on a mission to learn to make treats and food that the whole family enjoys and can eat. D's food challenges make it the most difficult and M's add to it. There is a blog called the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen that has taught me to be a pretty excellent gluten free, casein free, soy free baker and cook.
There was a roundup of lunch ideas and these cupcakes were featured. I changed the recipe quite a bit (no longer vegan) so I'll show you my adapted version here as well as the dairy free, soy free peanut butter frosting recipe that I created. These were a huge hit with the whole family and no belly aching accompanied them.



Gluten-Free, Soy-Free & Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free Chocolate-Almond Cupcakes

1 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened hemp milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

1/4 cup tapioca starch or arrowroot flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour

1 cup almond meal
3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp xantham/guar gum

1/4 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup grapeseed oil


Directions


Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray or line a cupcake pan with liners.
Combine the non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl to create a “buttermilk”. Let this mixture sit for at least five minutes. Sift together flours and remaining dry ingredients. It is important that you sift – no one wants a white lump in their chocolate cupcake! Add the maple syrup, vanilla, egg and oil to the non-dairy milk “buttermilk”. Stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches. Stir just until combined. Spoon into cupcake pan (a little more than 3/4 full since they don’t rise very much) and bake for 20-22 minutes. Test one cupcake with a cake tester or a knife. MAKES 12 CUPCAKES.

Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Peanut Butter Frosting

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
1.5-2 cups powdered coconut sugar

1/3 cup coconut milk

Directions
Cream oil and peanut butter together until fluffy then add .5 cup of icing sugar and mix until completely incorporated. Slowly mix in coconut milk until creamy. Then add another cup of icing sugar and whip until fluffy. Add more coconut milk if necessary to make it the right spreadable consistency.