With Christmas less than a week away, I’m really feeling the need to bake as many holiday-themed treats as possible. Not for any particular reason other than that I won’t feel like making things with adorable Santa cupcake wrappers after the holiday is over. Time is of the essence! So, I thought some low carb cupcakes were in order – and what better way to top them than with some peppermint icing? I KNOW.
Obviously, there are some challenges inherent in baking things that are sugar free, grain free and nut free, but it’s worth it to be able to eat cupcakes, and not get sick. It’s the little things. Anyway, these cupcakes are so, so good that CM literally ate 3/4 of the batch I made last night (I may have eaten 1/4) and I ended up needing to make more today. Okay, so maybe no one ever NEEDS to make low carb cupcakes…
Anyway, these are surprisingly easy to make and really, really good. I strongly recommend whipping up a batch, whether or not you opt to frost them.
Notes on baking Peppermint Chocolate Low Carb Cupcakes:
- For the frosting – I just added some liquid stevia (to taste – around 10 drops) to a 1/4 cup full fat canned coconut milk, and whipped in a tablespoon of softened butter to make it creamier. Really, really good. Frosting is totally optional, though, and they’re divine without it.
- Yes, there’s a lot of cream cheese in this recipe, but you honestly don’t taste it. CM didn’t believe that there was any cream cheese at all, until he watched me make the second batch.
- The order of operations here is actually pretty important in order for the cupcakes to come out uniform, so try to stick to the recipe.
- If you wanted to make a cake out of this instead, I’d recommend baking for about 35 minutes, and then checking pretty frequently.
Ingredients
- 4 oz (8 tbsp) cream cheese (or Neufchatel/mascarpone), softened
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup Swerve, or other granulated sweetener
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- frosting (optional - see above for recipe)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Grease/line 8 wells of a muffin tray (or use a silicon pan!).
- Cream together butter, Swerve, cream cheese and extracts,
- Beat in eggs one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next.
- In a separate dish, mix together coconut flour and cocoa powder, making sure there are no lumps.
- Stir flour mixture into wet mixture, completely mixing - again, no lumps!
- Scoop batter into muffin tray.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are firm to the touch.
- Pull out of the oven and let cool for at least a half hour before frosting.
Notes
Nutrition is for cakes only - not frosting!
