Grain Free Cupcakes/Muffins

I cannot decide what to call these delicious treats!  They are sweet, so they are like cupcakes, but they aren't so sweet that you can't also call them muffins.  With the simple icing I made they are even sweeter.  And truly because they are packed with protein (almonds and eggs) they are more like muffins.  In any case, my mother-in-law deemed them "the best she's ever eaten," so I thought that made them worthy to share here!

I have also recently decided that if I am going to use sweeteners in foods, there had better be some nutritional value within them.  This is mainly why I have moved away from using agave nectar.  In this recipe, I used my absolute favorite - coconut sugar - both within and for the icing.  I also used a little bit of organic blackstrap molasses to coat the cacao nibs, since molasses is a source of minerals including calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium.

These are a variation of almond flour vanilla cupcakes that I have made from recipes I have found on blogs like Elana's Pantry and some paleo blogs.  I just thought they needed some unique originality!  

So, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 organic pastured eggs

1/4 cup of coconut oil melted - unrefined

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour

little dash of sea salt

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

cacao nibs

organic blackstrap molasses

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Mix the dry ingredients together - except for the cacao nibs

Mix the wet ingredients together except for the molasses

Choose how much nibs you want to add, place them into a bowl and coat with some molasses.  Set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until lumps are gone.

Add the sweetened cacao nibs and mix in

Place into paper-lined muffin tins

Bake in the oven 20 mins or until golden brown on top

While muffins are baking, take some more coconut sugar, about 1/4 cup and place into a small pan on the stove.  Add some water, about 1/2 cup or a little more and heat over medium heat.  Stir with a spatula to reduce the water down until you have a syrupy mixture that you can spread onto the muffins. It will be a bit sticky, but so yummy and so good.  Coat the tops of the muffins while they are still warm and you are finished.  

As with any recipe you can tweak the sweeteners to your liking.  I found that they weren't sweet enough for my taste until I added the icing and then they instantly became delicious!  But, you could always use stevia or no icing at all if you don't love sweet flavors, and then they would be more like muffins after all.  

I used cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips again for the nutritional value and to avoid added refined sweeteners and other ingredients.  Cacao nibs are pure forms of chocolate providing all of those great antioxidants.

Enjoy!