Super healthy cupcakes that your kids will love (no dairy, no sugar, gluten free)

My son is three and therefore loves cookies, cupcakes and anything else chocolate. Actually, it probably

has more to do with him being my son than it does him being three.

Despite my love for all things junk food, I actually eat what most would consider some strange food. I

try to eat healthy. The problem is, “healthy” is such a vague term. Depending on your philosophy, one

person’s junk food is another person’s health food. So, let me take a second to define what I think is

healthy,  not in an attempt to persuade you, but just so you know what we are talking about. I prefer

natural, unaltered ingredients whenever possible. I figure throughout all the fads, fruits and veggies are

always safe.  But, don’t be fooled. These cupcakes are still very rich as they are not by any means low

fat.

About a year ago I discovered some raw food blogs. Although I’m not going to advocate that as a

lifestyle (neither am I against it), I will say that it led me to some amazingly delicious recipes – all of

which contain whole ingredients, heavy on veggies. Unfortunately, once those recipes are labeled as

raw, they are kind of scary to most people. However, I believe it is entirely psychological. I came to

believe this after seeing my sons reaction to this and other recipes. He just calls them cupcakes with no

idea they are healthy.

So, today, I wanted to share a very delicious healthy cupcake recipe that, although raw, is rich, chocolaty

and even comes with icing. Yum! Get ready to put aside your doubts, and jump head first into some guilt

free chocolate yummness.

First, let’s decide what is going to go into these babies!

Cake:

1 Cup Raw, soaked nuts (I used hazelnut, pecans and macadamia)

2. pitted medjool dates

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon raw local honey

Icing:

½ Avacado

3 pitted medjool dates

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

Let’s start making the cake.

As you can see, the “cake” portion of the cupcake is basically a fruit and nut mixture. If you’ve ever had

a Larabar, this is going to be very similar. Since we aren’t using flour or eggs, we’ll have to get it to stick

together somehow. The best way to do this is to soak the nuts for about an hour before you begin. This

will get them very soft. It also mellows the flavor, especially if you are using a bitter nut like a walnut.

Put the soaked nuts in a food processor and process until finely chopped. If you start making a nut

butter, you’ve gone too far.

Once the nuts are chopped, add the other ingredients and continue processing. In about 30 seconds,

you’ll discover a thick chocolate batter like mixture. It reminds me of a very rich German chocolate cake.

That’s it for the cake portion! No baking required. You have a few options here, depending on what your

end goal is here. Normally, I like to roll these in little balls and use them as quick energy balls when I

need a snack. It is essentially a little fruit and nut bite. It is high in protein and fiber, so great for energy

and for keeping me full. However, since I was aiming for cupcakes here, I’m going to need some icing!

So, I spooned these in some cute cupcake wrappers and now I’ll get started on the icing.

Here is the part where you’re going to need to trust me. When I tell you what is in this icing, you’re

going to question my taste buds. I promise you, this will taste delicious. It tastes just like chocolate icing!

It it just made from a non-sweet fruit instead of powdered sugar.

Ready? (It will be ok, promise). Take half the avocado and place it in the food processor. Squish it down

a little so it will easily mix up. Now, add the cocoa, dates, vanilla and salt. If you want a sweeter icing,

add a teaspoon of agave nectar as well.

Process all ingredients for a few seconds, then scrape down the processor and reprocess. Do this until

you have an even color (no green) icing. You will know it is mixed well enough if it resembles chocolate

icing. It should have a very similar consistency.

Now, spoon the icing on to the cupcakes. Or, if you are fancy, you can use an icing bag and pipe it on.

And that’s it! Now you have these adorable little cupcakes that are really just made from fruits and nuts!

Sandy Donovan

Sandy is the owner of Get Unrobed (getunrobed.com); an online retail store specializing in stylish nightly

fashion. Find a kimono robe, bridesmaid robes or luxury spa robes there. Sandy is also the mother of

one, a spirited three year old, and a college speech instructor. Her interests include writing, nutrition,

parenting and educating.