Candy Cupcakes(aka Tasty Recycling!)

2 Posted on November 2, 2011 - by Jules Shepard

Categories: All, Cakes, Desserts, Holiday, Recipes

Tags: , Allergy Friendly, Cupcakes, Dairy Free, Desserts, GFCF, Gluten Free Birthdays, Gluten Free Kids, Halloween, Kid-Friendly, Peanut Butter

Halloween has come and gone, but what to do with all that candy??!

By now, you’ve no doubt painstakingly poured over the loot that your kids dragged home or the leftovers you might have from your own Halloweening. You’ve identified the treats that are free from gluten and other allergens that may concern you, and set the others aside – perhaps to donate to kids in Haiti like our local Girlscouts are doing? (If you are unsure about which candies are GF safe, please read this article on gluten-free candies!) My kids are actually getting paid by the pound to hand their candy over to the dentist (who will either trash it or send it to the troops – hard to tell!). Speaking of which, I’m starting to think I really need to get in on this action (didn’t I somehow enable this money-making scheme?!?). But I digress …

So it’s safe to say that right about now, you may be staring down something akin to a hill of candy. Lucky for you, I have a tasty answer to help you get rid of at least some of your loot! You can make yourself feel better by focusing on the peanut butter (has a lot of protein, right?!), milk (calcium) and cacao (raw chocolate is high in antioxidant flavanoids) in this recipe, or you can be brutally honest and just acknowledge it for what it is: a special occasion treat!

Happy post-Halloween candy recycling!

(Note: This recipe is written for those who can enjoy peanuts. If you cannot tolerate peanuts though, simply substitute another candy you enjoy in the cake, and try sunflower nut butter for the frosting, or choose a vanilla frosting you like instead!)

Candy Cupcakes

1/2 cup milk of choice (dairy or non-dairy like soy, almond, hemp, rice – vanilla flavored)
2 Tbs. cacao powder (raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract
1 cup granulated cane sugar
2 2/3 cup Jules Gluten Free™ All-Purpose Flour
1 Tbs. gluten-free baking powder
dash of salt
1 package gluten-free vanilla instant pudding (3.4-3.8 oz) (Jell-O brand -3.4 oz- is currently GF & dairy-free; Dr. Oetker Organic Vanilla Pudding & Pie Mix – 3.8 oz – is also GF & dairy-free)
1 cup chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms or other gluten-free candy of choice

Preheat oven to 325º F.

Stir the cacao powder in with the milk, then blend together all the liquid ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring until the eggs and other liquids are well mixed. Whisk together the other dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly pour into the liquid bowl and mix on medium speed of an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until very thick. Gently fold in the chopped candy.

Oil muffin tins (approximately 24) or line with muffin papers. Fill with the cupcake batter to 1/2 – 2/3 full.

Bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes. The tops should be lightly browned and they should have crowned. Stick a toothpick or cake tester to the bottom of the cupcakes to be sure they are done – there should be very little crumb attached to the toothpick.

Remove to cool on a cooling rack and frost with Peanut Butter Frosting when fully cooled.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at 8:00 am and is filed under All, Cakes, Desserts, Holiday, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Comments

We'd love to hear yours!

Tolly said: on November 8, 2010

I just made these with chocolate chips instead of Reese’s cups, since that is what I had. They are yummy, but I think would be better with the Reese’s cups since the peanut butter would add just a touch of salty. If I make it again with chocolate chips, I’ll cut back on the sugar a little. I do have a question – has anyone else had trouble trying to do the 2 minutes of mixing. It kept climbing up the beaters and trying to go into the motor of the mixer. I didn’t get to finish even a minute of the mixing. Should I be using something other than regular beaters?
Thanks,
Tolly
Reply
- Jules said: on November 8, 2010
  
  In certain recipes, like this one, where the batter is particularly thick, having a paddle attachment instead of beaters works better. I agree that the salty peanut butter makes this recipe really yummy – straight up chocolate could be too much unless you’re a total chocoholic!
  Reply
Debbie Curtis said: on November 9, 2011

hmmmm YUMMY!!… I like what you did with the cupcakes, my little cousins will surely want’s to eat something like this. Jules can I copy the ingredients and procedure then? Oh I hope you could personally teach me on how to do it.
Reply
- Jules said: on November 9, 2011
  
  Debbie – feel free to print the recipe and use it anytime! Hope your cousins enjoy it!
  Reply