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Vanilla Quinoa Flour Cupcakes

February 1, 2018 · Natalie 77 Comments

A healthier birthday (or any day) treat – Vanilla Quinoa Flour Cupcakes with just 7 ingredients and creamy pink coconut berry frosting on top!

This one is going to be short but SWEET. Because it’s seven forty-something p.m. the night before, but I am determined to share these pink-frosted fluffy little cakes with you tomorrow. So that means less rambling and more let’s get to the recipe already.

I must admit this cupcake recipe took a bit longer to test than anticipated. While I do love quinoa flour, it’s not quite as familiar for me yet as oat or almond. But it makes for a killer cupcake crumb, so every batch was very worth it.

Plus a recipe that requires frosting throws a whole host of extra decisions into the mix – coconut or cashew? spread or pipe? white with pink sprinkles or pink with white sprinkles? in a house or with a mouse?

And then there’s the part where you have to let the cupcakes cool COMPLETELY (or speed up the process…I see you my fellow cupcake freeze-ers) so the frosting doesn’t melt right off in a tragic drippy blob.

And then there’s the part where you have made so many test batches you can’t remember which one is which anymore, so you have to do one last trial run just to be sure.

And I’m already rambling…

Okay but about these cupcakes (a.k.a. why you will LOVE them):

Only 7 ingredients.
Vegan and gluten-free and oil-free.
Only ONE kind of flour. No starches or fancy flour blends. Just quinoa flour (and you can even make your own!)
Low-fat. The only fat source in this recipe is the coconut milk. I actually tried a batch with almond butter – because most things in life are better with almond butter – and they were no good (gasp!)
Exactly zero dates. Okay this is maybe love/hate. But many of you have been asking for a non date-sweetened cake for a while now. If you are all about the medjools, THIS recipe is for you.
The texture. Oh the light, fluffy, perfect-crumb insides.

So much to love. And that moment when you take the first bite and all those bullet points meld into one perfect mouthful of cake, that is a very good moment.

The frosting.

I mean they don’t NEED frosting per say. The world doesn’t really NEED frosting per say. But without it cupcakes would just be muffins and birthday parties would just be sad, so thank you frosting for gifting us with your colorful creamylusciousness.

The frosting is made with coconut butter, (optional) maple syrup, non-dairy milk, and freeze-dried raspberry dust for color. It is important to have all your ingredients at room temperature before combining, otherwise the coconut butter will seize up. It works best to make it in a blender, adding milk slowly until it is thick and creamy.

I personally think the coconut butter is sweet enough, and the tart raspberry flavor next to the sweet cake is yummy as is. But if you want to add a few tablespoons of liquid sweetener go for it. Just know the color will be slightly less vibrant.

You can use other kinds of freeze dried fruit for a different flavor/color too. Or top them with chocolate frosting or maybe a matcha glaze or even coconut whipped cream instead.

It just so happens that freeze-dried raspberries make for a very pretty pink shade of frosting. And it just so happens that Valentine’s Day is coming up soon. So you could make these for you or your boo for Valentine’s Day. Or you could make them tomorrow because waiting is hard.

Yep, this is my new favorite way to eat quinoa ♥︎

Vanilla Quinoa Flour Cupcakes

★★★★★ 4.2 from 13 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 cupcakes 1x
Category: dessert
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

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Description

A healthier birthday (or any day) treat – Quinoa Flour Cupcakes with just 7 ingredients and creamy pink coconut berry frosting on top. Vegan, gluten-free, easy!

Ingredients

Scale

Vanilla Cupcakes

3/4 cup (190g) unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup (160g) maple syrup
1/2 cup (120g) light coconut milk (*)
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 tsps baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 3/4 cup (200g) quinoa flour (**)

Raspberry Frosting

3/4 cup (180g) coconut butter
Optional: 2 tbsp maple syrup ((at room temperature))
1/4–1/2 cup non-dairy milk ((at room temperature))
1–2 tbsps ground freeze-dried raspberries

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, maple syrup, milk, and vanilla. Whisk.
Add the baking powder, salt, and flour. Whisk/stir to combine.
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. (These cupcakes are low-fat so consider lightly spritzing the liners for easier removal.)
Divide the batter between 6-8 cupcakes, filling each 3/4 of the way.
Bake for 25-30 minutes at 325F. The centers should be firm and bounce back when pressed.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before frosting, or even chill overnight.
For the frosting, melt the coconut butter until soft and pourable (I microwaved it for 5-10 seconds).
In a blender combine the coconut butter and liquid sweetener. (Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature!)
Blend adding milk slowly until creamy and smooth. It will seize up initially but keep going and it will smooth out. Don’t add too much milk or it will turn into a glaze.
Add the freeze dried raspberry dust. Blend/adjust to desired color.
Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them and top with freeze dried berry “sprinkles”.
Enjoy!
Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. They can last 3-4 days, but will dry out with time. The frosting will become quite firm in the fridge so warm sightly before serving.

Notes

* I recommend light coconut milk from a can. Coconut milk from a carton or almond milk will make them less moist. **You can buy it HERE or make your own like THIS

Keywords: baking, birthday, cake, vegan, gluten-free

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Magic Bars

January 29, 2018 · Natalie 46 Comments

A truly MAGICAL gooey nutty chocolate treat – chocolate cookie crust, peanut butter on top, lots of chocolate chips, and NO sweetened condensed milk!

All this time magic cookie bars have gotten away with calling themselves magic while containing zero peanut butter. It’s disgraceful.

I fully own up to being a part of the problem, but these Chocolate PEANUT BUTTER Magic Bars and I are here to make things right. Because gooey peanut butter bars crammed with chocolate chips sitting atop a chunky brownie(ish) crust are the ultimate peace offering. Always. Can you think of any situations to the contrary…? Nope, me neither.

As already yum as that title sounds, there is extra between-the-lines yum that makes this scenario even better. Because I don’t make my magic bars with sweetened condensed milk, I make them with bananas. Sounds very non-interchangeable I know, but trust me it works here. And you know what else WORKS? Chocolate plus peanut butter plus banana – yep, the whole yummy fam is together again.

The crust. Let’s talk about this NOT un-chunky chocolate crust. I tested two versions: 1) with coconut flour (let’s not talk about it) 2) with oat flour (ahh, much better). I think coconut flour is confused on the difference between desert and dessert.

The oat crust is thick and chewy and chocolatey. FYI it’s less thick if you eat a lot of the dough while mixing (why tradeoffs, whyyyyyy?). And it’s made with just four simple in-your-pantry ingredients.

But here’s the thing. We’ve made enough magic bar variations at this point that you have options:

Oat flour crust. The version pictured in this post. Peanut butter flavor included.
Almond flour crust. Very rich and buttery. No peanut flavor. Like this but chocolate.
Date nut crust. No flour and fruit-sweetened. Like this but with peanuts and chocolate.
Coconut flour crust. No.

My favorite is the almond flour one…surprise, surprise. Almond flour why must you be so good for everything except my budget? I included details for how to make each in the recipe notes.

Once the crust is done and pressed and waiting, the rest is easy.

The PB magic. You will need ripe bananas. And peanut butter. And chocolate chips. And peanuts. And WHAT IS WITH THE WINTER BANANA RIPENING RATE?

It takes practically a full day per brown speckle-y spot. What do they think we are, patient or something? So you should buy them right now today otherwise you won’t be making these until 2019.

Into the blender goes those (finally) ripe bananas along with peanut butter and a generous pinch of salt if your PB is unsalted. Same goes for the crust – just salt this whole situation up because both chocolate and peanut butter are MUCH better that way. Have you ever looked at the sodium content on a Reese’s cup? Me either, hang on…okay it’s actually not that high. Wait…did I just discover a potential area for improvement in America’s favorite candy? *insert astonished face emoji*

Anyways! Bananas > peanut butter > blend it up. You can use powdered peanut butter here, I tested it. But I think we both know which will be dessert-ier. But I cannot vouch for what will happen if you use frozen bananas instead of fresh

Pour that peanut butter banana “soup” mixture on top of the crust BEFORE sprinkling on the chocolate chips and chopped peanuts. And if the chopped peanuts somehow MAGICally turned into more chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks, yassss!) it would not be a bad day.

Peanut free? If you don’t do peanuts, replace all the peanut butter with almond butter and all the chopped peanuts with chopped almonds. Or any nut/nut butter. Chocolate ~~Peanut~~ Almond Butter Magic Bars comin atcha! Forget I even mentioned peanuts (34 times), and enjoy my peanut free friend.

While I did include some lower fat options and fruit-sweetening ideas for ya too, this isn’t a breakfast bar. This is a dessert bar. A magic dessert bar. So I say be generous with your chocolate chip scattering, plop in the real deal peanut butter, and just cherish them in all their indulgently gooey PB&C glory.