Cupcakes and sunshine!

 Embarrassing fact: My baking cups are either heart or flower shaped.

My last blog/recipe post/rant was pretty intense. Let's lighten the mood for the weekend with a cute cupcake recipe. Looks like it's going to be a lovely weekend in Central Oregon!!! I'm getting out on my bike to hit some trails! Hope you all get out and enjoy it as well! As promised here is the Chocolate cupcake recipe!

 This is the epic spot I will be visiting this weekend!

I am pretty proud of these to be honest.I was trying to match the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake's that I received from my friend Wende. Peanuts are a no go in Paleo so I borrowed the cashew "frosting" recipe from PaleOMG. It's good but I think next time I'd like to go for more of a chocolatey type frosting.

 I made my own coconut butter for this as well. I'll attach a link to a website that I used that showed me how to do it. It's very simple. http://www.thekitchn.com/one-ingredient-recipe-coconut-butter-166405

Ingredients:

-1/4 cup coconut flour

-1 cup almond meal

-2 egg whites

-4 eggs

-1/3 cup cocoa powder

-3/4 cup coconut sugar

-1 cup coconut milk @ room temp

-1 TSP baking soda

1- TSP Vanilla extract

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 °F

-Mix together the flours, eggs, egg whites, cocoa powder, sugar, coconut milk, baking soda, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

(I had to do some adjusting here, add coconut milk or almond meal to get the right runny consistency that was easy to mix by hand).

-Scoop the batter evenly into cupcake liners.

-I baked for 25 minutes and that was perfect.

-Insert a wooden pick and if it comes out clean they are done.

-Let cool and then frost!

-Notes-

    -I use silicone baking cups because the cupcakes come out of them much better then paper cups.

    -Since this is my first baking recipe there was some adjustments done with the coconut milk and almond meal in order to get the right consistency. (give me a break OK ;))

    -I get coconut sugar at Food-4-less....Ugh I know, the worst store in Central Oregon. 

    -I never trust the baking time a recipe gives me, and that usually works in my favor. I suggest the same for you. Keep an eye on the cupcakes. Better to be safe then sorry :)


 Here is the frosting! http://paleomg.com/easter-weekend-double-decker-carrot-cake-cupcakes/

This is my friend Dennis Collins.