Cupcakes!

What? Cupcakes can be healthy? Well, yes and no. These cupcakes aren't your green salad, but they also aren't your average cupcake filled with processed flour, sugar, and bad fats. These contain NO SUGAR, NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS, and NO WHEAT. They are NOT gluten-free though. I got this recipe from the book "Babycakes" my husband bought me for Christmas. In this book are recipe's for vegan, sugar-free and (mostly) gluten-free desert cakes, breads, frostings, etc. This is the first recipe I have tried and these are DELICIOUS!!! They fulfill my sweet cravings and I don't feel as guilty eating them!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1/2 C Rice Milk
2 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
3 1/4 C Spelt Flour
1/3 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 TBS plus 1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Sea Salt
2/3 C Coconut Oil (don't forget to heat the oil first, then measure when it's in liquid form)
1 1/4 C Agave Nectar
2 TBS Pure Vanilla Extract
5 TBS Natural Red Food Coloring


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325. Line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liner.

Pour the rice milk and apple cider vinegar into a small bowl, but do not stir; set aside to develop into "buttermilk."

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the oil, agave nectar and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. The batter will be thick. Using a plastic spatula, add the "buttermilk" and mix just until combined. Slowly add red food coloring by the tablespoon. Mix well.

Pour 1/3 C batter into each prepared cup, almost filling it. Back the cupcakes on the center rack for 24 minutes, rotating the tins 180 degrees after 14 minutes. The finished cupcakes will bounce back slightly when pressed, and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Let the cupcakes stand in the tins for 20 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely.



There you have it! A note or two:

*I live at 7300ft at discovered it only took 15 minutes to cook the cupcakes. I recommend checking the cupcakes regularly after 15 minutes until they are done so they do not burn.

*If you do not have celiac disease but do not tolerate gluten well, spelt flour should be OK for you to eat, even though there is some gluten in it. Spelt flour does not react to the body like wheat and processed flour do. However, each individual is different, so test a little bit first to see how you react.

ENJOY!