Earlier this month, a group of us friends headed to a lake-house in the Poconos.

 

We took food to be grilled, drinks to be shared and a healthy appetite for horror stories. The setting was perfect fodder for our gruesome imaginations so we collectively created a story where we all are murdered by a psycho killer in a lake-house. Such fun!

 

Here’s the lake-house. Perfect setting, right?

 

 

It wasn’t all scary though. There was bright sunshine and gorgeous sunsets, and food that ranged from grilled chicken to mini eclairs!

 

 

A holiday with a large group of friends is often hard to plan, but it’s almost always worth it!

 

We came back to more crazy fun weekends, one of which included my birthday!

 

 

With all this celebrating and my sweet tooth on overdrive, I needed to make something sweet that wasn’t altogether terrible for me.

 

I decided on these gluten-free, paleo almond cupcakes and they were perfect!

 

 

I used almond flour for the main cupcake, but to enhance the nutty flavor I also added cashew butter to replace frosting and pecans to decorate! Aren’t they lovely?

 

What I love about them is that they are incredibly moist and just sweet enough, without having an unhealthy amount of oil, sweeteners or eggs!

 

 

They still taste pretty decadent and I wouldn’t have more than one at a time, but they’re the perfect sweet treat if you’re trying to be a bit healthy! Super easy to make too! Give it a go 🙂

 

Almond Cupcakes

 

Recipe adapted from: Cook Nourish Bliss

 

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Makes: 12

 

Ingredients:

 

600g/3 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

60ml/ 1/4 cup melted coconut oil

120ml/ 1/2 cup honey

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cashew butter, for the frosting

4 tbsp almond milk, for the frosting

24 pecan halves, to decorate

 

 

 

Method:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF , and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cups. In a large bowl, mix the almond flour, baking soda and salt together.
2. In another bowl, whisk the melted coconut oil, honey, eggs and vanilla extract together. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
3. Scoop into the paper cups and then bang the tin on a hard surface a few times so the batter settles into the cups. Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 20 minutes. Then remove onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Mix the cashew butter with almond milk to thin out and then place one teaspoon of the mixture in the center of each cooled cupcake. Top with two pecan halves and enjoy!

 

Love you guys! ❤