Creative Dessert...or Desert?

Every once in a while I get in really creative and artsy moods, some of which end up with some interesting outcomes.  One example that has been extremely useful and fun for Dan and I is a Date Night Jar that I made as a gift for Dan last year.  I took an empty Ball jar, decorated it, and filled it with large popsicle sticks on which I had written ideas for date nights.  We have been trying to choose one stick every week or every other week and the result has made for some really fun dates!

The stick that we chose this week read "Make a dessert together."  Dan immediately made a joke about how we were going to make a "desert" together, so I decided to turn his joke into a creative challenge by coming up with an idea to make a dessert that doubled as a desert!  These cupcakes were not only fun to make, but tasted absolutely amazing.  This is by far the best Paleo cupcake recipe I have baked.  If you are having a desert themed party I definitely recommend trying out this recipe!  Even though there are several components to the final product, it was relatively simple to put it all together.

Before sharing the full recipe, I want to give a huge shout out to Paleo Grubs for their delicious cupcake recipe - it really helped put this whole dessert together!  The combination of the coconut cupcakes with the maple cream cheese frosting was a perfectly sweet and creamy pairing.  The cactus coconut "marzipan" took me some time to figure out the right consistency, but after some trial and error I was finally able to make a couple cacti that stayed together well and tasted amazing!  The addition of shredded coconut to the mix even looked similar to the spines on a real cactus. 

Gluten Free [Almost Paleo] Desert Cupcakes

Cupcake recipe borrowed from Paleo Grubs
Yield: 8 cupcakes + 8 cacti + a whole lot of frosting!

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 eggs (take out of the fridge ~30 min. before baking to bring to room temp.)
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 T unsweetened almond milk (or other nondairy milk)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Frosting

• 1/2 T vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 8 oz full fat cream cheese

For the Cactus Coconut "Marzipan"

• 4 Tablespoons coconut flour
• 4 tsp all-natural green spinach food coloring, recipe below (may substitute with a few drops of store-bought green food coloring)
• 1/4 cup + 3 T pure maple syrup
• 2 T + 2 tsp shredded coconut

For the Sand

• Gluten free graham crackers, crushed (I used Schar Honeygrams that I found at Wegmans)

Directions

For the Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease 8 cups of a muffin tin with coconut oil to prevent the cupcakes from sticking, or line the tin with baking cups and lightly coat the insides with coconut oil.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add in the remaining wet ingredients (from eggs down to vanilla extract) and mix until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the 8 greased muffin cups, distributing equally.
6. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick placed in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and allow the muffin tin to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes.
8. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl, add all ingredients for the frosting.
3. Using a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, blend all ingredients together until smooth.
4. Store any extra frosting in the fridge.  It tastes delicious on any extra gluten free graham crackers you have leftover!

For the Cactus Coconut "Marzipan"

1. Mix all ingredients into a medium sized bowl until completely combined.  The consistency should be sticky enough to mold into cactus shapes.  If it is crumbling apart at all, add more maple syrup 1 tsp at a time until you reach the right consistency.
2. Break off approximately 2 Tablespoons of "marzipan" to mold into a cactus shape.  You can use my two examples as models or get creative with your own!

To Build the Cupcake Deserts

1. Once the cupcakes have cooled, spread your desired amount of cream cheese frosting on top of each.
2. Top the frosting with crumbled graham crackers (your sand).
3. Place a cactus coconut "marzipan" on top of the middle of each cupcake.

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*If choosing to make an all-natural green food coloring, follow the simple instructions below!

All-Natural Green Food Coloring

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls fresh or frozen spinach
• Water

Directions

1. Place the spinach into a small saucepan.
2. Add water so that the spinach is completely covered.
3. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the water reduces by about half.
4. Remove from heat and carefully pour the spinach and water into a blender, leaving a hole open in the lid to allow steam to vent out.  *If your blender does not have a hole for ventilation in the lid, then allow the mixture to cool before blending.
5. Blend the spinach and water until smooth.
6. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer in order to strain out any larger particles of spinach.
7. Store any leftover coloring the fridge for later use.

-Brought to you from Erin's Kitchen