Other Recipes: Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Giving someone a hand with Christmas baking. Sugar Free Rocky Road too.

Yo, Dear Reader, I ended up baking quite a bit today, funnily when I was making the chocolate cupcakes/muffins I hadn’t the recipe to hand so I adapted the original on the fly and managed to imitate myself exactly, brains are amazing. This was tested by a few people and they really liked it, the main goal was to disguise the sweeteners aftertaste and to give a little body and rise without the sugar. The chocolate is naturally going to disguise, I actually used Guinness in the cupcakes above instead of milk, you get a slightly richer taste that way, and the apple gives the life and spring, though it does make them slightly denser. Without the Guinness this could probably be made gluten free without much fuss, but as I’ve said Dear Reader, this is just me sharing recipe that’ll need more work on your end, but which may still be beneficial to someone passing through. If I’m baking again, not that I feel like it right now, I may do something with cider and these. For myself I make a batch of Scones for freezing and make waffles fresh, usually daily, as a bread alternative, I’m using a slightly tweaked Mochi Pancake batter these days, I find I have trouble swallowing and the sweet rice flour helps. Not much happening as I’m using the same ingredients I have for years, there are only so many combinations within my own restrictions, hence me sharing these recipe that may inspire if nothing else. Until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe and take care.

Ingredients

125g of Self Raising Flour
2 Large Eggs
100g Butter
Equivalent to 100g Sugar in Sweetener of Choice
100g Unsweetened Apple Puree
75g Sugar Free Chocolate
30ml Milk
2 Tbsp/30g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175C (Fan)
2. In a Microwave melt Butter and Chocolate in a jug. Add Vanilla, Apple Puree and Sweetener and set aside.
3. Measure out Flour and Cocoa Powder and set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl beat Eggs until mixed and mix in Butter and Chocolate mix until fully incorporated.
5. Sieve Flour and Cocoa Powder into the centre of the Egg mixture then fold together with a metal spoon. Don’t over mix, if lumpy thats ok. Mixture should be slighty thick, but should still run off the spoon. Add Milk until desired consistency is achieved.
6. Spoon mixture into bun cases, about 3/4 full, and put in oven for 20 minutes or until firm and a skewerinserted comes out cean. Remove and let cool in tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire-rack.

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No Added Sugar Peanut Butter Cookies

This omelette has taken a strange turn.

Surprisingly not as sticky as it looks.

Yo, Dear Reader, I’ve had to make this twice to work out the kinks and I’d like to clarify some things before I get to the bones of the recipe, no not literal bones!, figurative bones that need no calcium, so, SUGAR FREE doesn’t mean much, fruit has sugar, there’s fruit in this, quite a bit, so, it can’t be sugar free, there’s no doubt some kind of naturally occurring sugar in every ingredient, so No Added Sugar is my way of being responsible and making sure there are no disappointments in anyone looking for a recipe only to find the description and the recipe are at odds. I’m a responsible person, Dear Reader, I put the work in because it’s better to do this right. Okay, next up on the various bits and pieces fluttering through my brain like so much confetti in a hurricane, oh, serving size. Again, THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL SERVING SIZE! Single portion means little, what individual ingredients go in a recipe will change its suitability for every single person, so use your discretion and brain, you know what you’d eat separately and you ca figure what a combination of that would look like, you don’t need me calling this single serving breakfast cookies, I’m using them as breakfast, with an espresso, beats eating peanut butter right out of the jar, sugar free, got ya, no added sugar naturally, but you, Dear Reader, how do I know? But you do, listen to your body and Jack occasionally too. Don’t forget me! Okay, that’s it, onto the very simple recipe.

Even as you can, but don’t fret too much, they bake just fine unevenly.

They’re hefty and filling. Just right for me.

These are of course an adaptation of my Peanut Butter Cookies, which always use natural peanut butter because the more processed stuff has too much oil for these recipe, I use it, don’t mistake me, but it’s far more viscous when cooked or baked, you’re getting the rougher parts of the nut in the natural too and that helps with structure. Without the sugar they really don’t work as well, so I had to add flour, now here I use buckwheat for it’s strength, but any will probably work, I’m not basing this on the fact it’ll sound col, as far too many free-from bloggers seem to, but basing it on my various flour and nut butter cookie variations: 1 2 3 Nothing, Dear Reader, here is based on hearsay or guesswork, I won’t do that to fill a void, if I don’t know I will admit it and if I just can’t I won’t. The issue I had in the first attempt, still good mind, was it was too dry, I tend to choke on anything even slightly dry, so I went to a lesson I learned from various recipes at Cooking Without Gluten and used grated apple, even the banana wasn’t sufficient by itself surprisingly. The rest is simple, the biggest issue is mixing, it takes a lot of elbow grease or an electric mixer. The batter is sticky, but slips off the spoon easily enough and when baked the cookie is springy and soft. These aren’t anything more than they see, they’re not a desert cookie, they’re more functional than that, but that isn’t to say they aren’t tasty, they have fruit and nuts and that’s always a great combination. You could add whatever spices you’d like, like cinnamon or nutmeg, I just wanted this plain cookie. They are dense and will fill you up without making you feel too full, they’re not a hidden sugar-bomb, they’re an alternative to those ubiquitous date and nut bars hat I can’t eat and seem to be the only go to snack now. Much like everything here, Dear Reader, they’ve been made for me and written up with you in mind. You can adjust as you need, they can easily be halved or doubled, they would work with a flax or chia egg, but you’d get a much flatter cookie and I don’t really think it’s be worthwhile unless necessary. That’s about it for me today, Dear Reader, I’ve been out in the rain setting up, or beginning to, my fifth rain barrel, when it’s ready I’l have the capacity to store around 800 litres of water or eighty watering cans if you prefer. Fun times, until later, take care.

Ingredients

350g Natural Peanut Butter
2 Large Eggs
2 Ripe Bananas
60g Buckwheat Flour
2 Eating Apples
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (More to Taste)
2 Tsp Baking Powder

Makes 12 Cookies.
Can be frozen.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175c (Fan) and line a tray with grease-proof paper.

2. Mash the Bananas in a bowl and then peel and core the Apple and grate into the Mashed Bananas.

3. Add in the Eggs and Vanilla and stir everything together. Add in The Peanut Butter and Mix vigorously until everything has completely combined and a thick paste has been formed.

4. Add in the Flour and Baking Powder and stir to combine, batter will dry but still remain sticky. Using a wet desert spoon scoop batter into rounds, an inch apart, onto the tray, wetting the spoon as needed, until the batter has been used up.

5. Bake or 12-15 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch, transfer to a wire-rack to cool completely.