Our Brand Ambassadors offer up an assortment of healthy treats for the holidays
The holidays are right around the corner, and that means carb-rich sugary desserts like cookies, cakes, pies, and other treats that will have you fighting those sweet temptations. We’re happy to report, it is possible to join in the holiday spirit without trashing your health regime. We asked our Crispy Green Brand Ambassadors to come up with some holiday-themed cupcakes that won’t leave you sugar-crashing. Charles Chen, Healthy Chef, TV Host and Wellness Expert; Allergy Expert Tracy Bush from the blog Nutrimom; and Megan Meisner from Megan Meisner Fitness all offered up creative and tasty desserts. They’re perfect for a party or even grabbing as a quick, healthy snack. Enjoy!
Charles Chen’s Paleo Cupcakes
Charles Chen’s Paleo Cupcakes won’t give you a carb overload because they use coconut flour. Give them and then are frosted with a pumpkin/coconut cream frosting. Yum! Visit his website for more nutritious recipes from Charles. http://www.charleschen.tv
Ingredients:
⅓ cup coconut flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, beaten
⅓ cup maple syrup or coconut nectar
⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup mini dark chocolate chips
Frosting:
½ cup coconut cream
⅓ cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla
1Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2Line a muffin tin with 8 paper cups and spray the insides with coconut oil spray to prevent sticking.
3Whisk together the coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
4Add in the eggs, maple syrup, coconut oil, almond milk, and vanilla.
6Fold in the chocolate chips.
7Divide the batter equally into the muffin cups.
8 Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
10Remove the cupcakes from the tin and cool completely before adding the frosting.
11To make the frosting, stir together the coconut cream, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small bowl.
12Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.
13Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
⅓ cup coconut flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, beaten
⅓ cup maple syrup or coconut nectar
⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup mini dark chocolate chips
Frosting:
½ cup coconut cream
⅓ cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2Line a muffin tin with 8 paper cups and spray the insides with coconut oil spray to prevent sticking.
3Whisk together the coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
4Add in the eggs, maple syrup, coconut oil, almond milk, and vanilla.
6Fold in the chocolate chips.
7Divide the batter equally into the muffin cups.
8 Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
10Remove the cupcakes from the tin and cool completely before adding the frosting.
11To make the frosting, stir together the coconut cream, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small bowl.
12Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill.
13Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled.
Charles Chen’s Paleo Cupcakes
Mummy Face/Snowman Cupcakes
Food Allergy specialist and blogger Tracy Bush offers up these ghoulishly adorable Mummy Face Cupcakes (or can easily be decorated as a snowman face or perfectly shaped snowball).
Ingredients:
Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix
Vegetable Oil or Coconut Oil
4 oz Applesauce
Ener-G Powdered Egg Replacer
Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Chips
Your Choice of a Bright Candy (I used Skittles but you can use Tic Tacs, Gummy Bears, Licorice, anything)
A Toothpick
Vanilla Frosting of your choice (see below)
Directions:
1Make cupcakes using a gluten-free mix. She recommends Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix and then uses half of the oil, and then adds one 4-ounce applesauce as well as Ener-G Powdered Egg Replacer to ensure the cupcakes stayed together. This makes a total of 12 cupcakes from this batch.
2Frost the cupcake with the frosting, making sure all of the chocolate cupcake is covered.
3Place two candies on it as the eyes.
4Frost again just above and just below the eyes, making horizontal lines with the frosting to make it look like bandages.
5Using a toothpick, dip it into the melted chocolate and "draw" two dots for eyes.
6Vanilla Frosting of Your Choice
Ingredients
Ingredients:
Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix
Vegetable Oil or Coconut Oil
4 oz Applesauce
Ener-G Powdered Egg Replacer
Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Chips
Your Choice of a Bright Candy (I used Skittles but you can use Tic Tacs, Gummy Bears, Licorice, anything)
A Toothpick
Vanilla Frosting of your choice (see below)
Directions
Directions:
1Make cupcakes using a gluten-free mix. She recommends Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake mix and then uses half of the oil, and then adds one 4-ounce applesauce as well as Ener-G Powdered Egg Replacer to ensure the cupcakes stayed together. This makes a total of 12 cupcakes from this batch.
2Frost the cupcake with the frosting, making sure all of the chocolate cupcake is covered.
3Place two candies on it as the eyes.
4Frost again just above and just below the eyes, making horizontal lines with the frosting to make it look like bandages.
5Using a toothpick, dip it into the melted chocolate and "draw" two dots for eyes.
6Vanilla Frosting of Your Choice
Coconut Cream Vegan Frosting
From Lindsay Cotter at Cotter Crunch
Ingredients
13 oz coconut cream (cream NOT milk works best). Buy at least 3 cans in case one doesn’t chill properly.
¼ cup sweetener of choice (ex: maple syrup or cocoa for chocolate).
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
1Make sure your coconut cream can is chilled 24 hrs and you have coconut cream not milk.
2Have extras chilling in case the first one doesn’t give you enough cream.
3Once chilled pour the hardened cream mixture into a bowl.
4Discard the water portion.
5Add your sugar and vanilla beat until fluffy and smooth.
Ingredients
Ingredients
13 oz coconut cream (cream NOT milk works best). Buy at least 3 cans in case one doesn’t chill properly.
¼ cup sweetener of choice (ex: maple syrup or cocoa for chocolate).
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
Directions:
1Make sure your coconut cream can is chilled 24 hrs and you have coconut cream not milk.
2Have extras chilling in case the first one doesn’t give you enough cream.
3Once chilled pour the hardened cream mixture into a bowl.
4Discard the water portion.
5Add your sugar and vanilla beat until fluffy and smooth.
Coconut Cream Vegan Frosting
Pumpkin Banana Cupcakes
Megan Meisner of Megan Meisner Fitness https://meganmeisnerfitness.com came up with these tasty Pumpkin Banana Cupcakes, which can double as muffins if you skip the icing, which means it’s totally fine to eat these for breakfast. 🙂
Ingredients
15 oz can of pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tbsp honey
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup stevia
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 bags of Crispy Green Crispy Bananas
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp ground nutmeg
Frosting:
½ cup powdered peanut butter
2 tsp stevia
mix with water
Directions:
1Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2Add the wet ingredients to bowl and mix well.
4Fold in Crispy Green Banana Slices.
5Line muffin pan with paper liners.
7Bake for approximately 15 minutes.
8Allow to cool before frosting.
