Make halloween healthy and fun!
I just LOOOOVE Halloween!!! It's an awesome excuse to act like a kid, eat candy, & play dress-up. And while I was soooooo excited to create a family costume for the three of us, this year we'll be traveling on Oct 31-Nov 1 so fitting extra stuff in already jam-packed suitcases was just not gonna happen. BUT I had to get my Halloween fix somehow, so with Aiden's last day at daycare this week, it was the perfect reason to make a special goodbye treat for him and the kids.
You can decorate them with any toppings
you love
Speaking of goodbyes, this was such an emotional week. Saying "Tot ziens!" to friends, colleagues, clients, and the wonderful people at Aiden's daycare left me turning on the water works & looking a bit like a racoon :( Hence the lack of selfies this week lol (those who know me know I rarely post selfies!). But all-in-all I feel like I'm actually ready to start this next chapter of our lives. I'm excited to see what's in store for us in Montreal, and to start building a home together there :)
But first we have to get through the traveling.....wish us luck! Now onto the tastiest part of this post!
There are soooo many fun & creative ideas for spooky treats on Pinterest. I loved the simplicity of this one, because as I said, we're in the middle of packing (ie in the middle of chaos!) for our big move back to Canada. So doing anything over-the-top fancy was just not in the cards this week.
I still had a ton of ingredients I wanted to use up from my pantry so I re-purposed my Maple Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes recipe to create these. The Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is a borrowed recipe from one of my favorite vegan food bloggers Angela Liddon from Oh She Glows. It's so perfect I didn't make any alterations. High five to Ange! Then I topped the cupcakes off with crushed gluten-free "Oreo" cookies as the "dirt", and placed sour candy worms and fake spiders for the spooky effect.
This recipe is so good it will scare the gluten from the grain - BOO! OK probably not, but they are gluten-free, vegan and really freakin good!
Speaking of sour candy, did you know it's my ultimate kryptonite? It's pretty much the one thing that I totally overindulge in if I even get a small taste, so I almost never buy it. So when I bought a big bag on the weekend for these cupcakes, I found myself dipping into the stash one too many times until the bag was gone -oops! Another trip into town to get these from the candy store - this time I saved them for the treats ;)
Hope you enjoy this spooky recipe, the festivities & of course, Happy Halloween!
Prep Time: 25min | Bake Time: 18-2Omin | Total Time: 45min | Yields: 8 medium-sized cupcakes Ingredients: Cupcakes:
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
"Dirt" Toppings:
6 Oreo cookies, white discarded (gluten-free cookies if possible)
8 sour candy worms
8 plastic spiders
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
3 Tablespoons vegan butter (I used a soy-based butter)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons almond milk (or more)
Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 175°C (35O° F).
In a large bowl, mix together coconut flour, cacao powder, sea salt, and baking soda.
In a separate small bowl, whisk eggs. Then add coconut oil and maple syrup and whisk to combine.
Using a hand mixer, slowly add wet ingredients to dry and combine thoroughly.
Line a muffin tray with paper liners or silicone cups, and divide the batter equally between 8 cups.
Bake for 18-2O minutes (mine took 2O minutes) or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool once baked.
While cupcakes bake, make the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. With a hand mixer, beat all the ingredients except the almond milk together in a large bowl. Add the milk in gradually, making sure the mixture remains thick but easily spreadable.
In a small sealable bag, place Oreo cookies, close the bag, and give them a good smash until there are small chunks of cookie and a lotta "dirt". Place cookie crumble into a bowl.
Once the cupcakes are cool, spread the frosting onto each one. Then dip them into the cookie crumble until they're almost all covered. Top with a candy worm and spider, and et vóila! Happy Halloween!