It seems like every weekend we have another birthday party. Sometimes we even have two. And with each birthday party comes the inevitable meal of pizza and birthday cake. Olivia LOVES pizza and she REALLY LOVES birthday cake.
My general food philosophy is to not make a big deal out of any food. Nothing is NO or OFF LIMITS. There is a time and a place for all types of foods. I try to remind Olivia and Cullen that some foods just taste really good, and others taste good AND make us healthy and strong. Some foods taste so yummy but too much can make us feel yucky. And other foods taste yummy and give us lots of energy to grow big and strong and run and play and think and become super smart. It is OK to have a tasty treat. Even two in one day from time to time. But it is so important to find the delicious foods that also nourish us and help us grow.
Birthdays are a great time and place for cake or a chocolate cupcake. But when Olivia started asking for chocolate cupcakes starting Monday morning at 7am, I knew I had to come up with something.
We cook and bake a lot in our house. It is a fabulous “witching hour” activity or a great Sunday morning . Olivia usually likes to make concoctions and Cullen likes to “mix mix” with his “spoon and (oven) mit.” They put on their chefs hats and aprons and I take out a counter full of ingredients. But sometimes, we like to create recipes. Specific goals we work hard to achieve. Like chocolate cupcakes.
I knew I needed to research ratios of dry/wet ingredients and amounts of baking soda to get the taste and texture right enough to make chocolate cupcakes healthy enough for breakfast. I swapped out refined sugar for honey. I added in protein powder and coconut flour instead of all purpose flour and I used avocado oil instead of canola oil.
We did it!
Our chocolate cupcakes were gobbled up by everyone in the family. They were high in protein and void of refined and processed junk.
We are going to make them again and top them with homemade frosting and sprinkles next time.
Tell us what YOU think! Go ahead- have a chocolate cupcake for breakfast!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup avocado oil
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, melted
5 large eggs
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup chocolate protein powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt (or a few grinds on your mill)
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Microwave the chocolate chips for 90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted.
Beat the eggs, vanilla and honey in a large bowl or stand mixer on medium. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Blend on high until smooth.
Add in the melted chocolate and beat on medium until the mixture thickens.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the 12 prepared cupcake liners.
Bake for 30 minutes.
COOL AND ENJOY!
