Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Nothing says Valentine's Day like chocolate. 

And what else says Valentine's Day?  White sugar?  Hydrogenated oil?  FD&C Red No. 40? 

I know, I'm such a downer, aren't I?

Well, here's a little treat for your valentines that you can feel good about giving them.  And it won't have them reenacting a scene from The Exorcist afterwards.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Makes 24 mini cupcakes (or 10 large)

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon sea salt
⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
½ cup coconut sugar
1 cup rice milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and sea salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, milk and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together until smooth.  Fill muffin cups about ¾ full and bake for about 18 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. 

Peanut Butter Frosting

If your valentine is allergic to peanuts, try almond butter.  Or even WowButter, if you would like to send these to school.  You will have to reduce the amount of maple syrup if your butter is sweetened, though.   

1 cup coconut oil
½ cup arrowroot powder
¼ cup peanut butter
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch sea salt

Beat the coconut oil with a hand-held mixer until smooth.  Add the arrowroot powder, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt.  Beat until fluffy.  Frost til your heart's content! 

Comments

[Michael]

Arghh... I'm supposed to be losing weight for summer, not eating delicious peanut butter cupcakes! Why do you have to tempt me so? Seriously, they look freakin' amazing.
http://purecoconutoil.org

[Sonja]

These do look good. Could the batter be baked in a pan like brownies and still come out decently? Or would it be too dry? Not a big cupcake person but a good moist brownie - that can send me over the moon.

[The Kind Cookie]

I have baked these in a cake pan before so, yes, you could. They don't really have the texture of a brownie, though. They are drier and more cake-like. You could try adding some chocolate chips to the batter, underbaking them slightly and see how that works. I will have to post a brownie recipe one of these days...