I made these flourless chocolate cupcakes with cocoa powder for my brother-in-law’s birthday last weekend (Happy Birthday Mufee!! :)) and they were a hit! Mufee has recently turned the big 4-0 (is it okay that I mention your age Mufee? :P) and so this birthday was a big deal. The family had conspired together to get Muf 40 gifts for his birthday and I was go get 6 of those 40! Yikes! That was stressful as my “love language” is definitely not gifts.

Aside: Have you guys heard about love languages? It’s very interesting! It basically says that people express love in 5 different ways – gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service and physical touch. People express love in these different ways and, in turn, often expect to receive love in the same way. I, for instance, express love predominantly through acts of service (I like doing things for people, like making food! Hence, the food blog :P). After service, I probably express love through (ranking from most important to least) quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation and then gifts would be last. Because acts of service is most important and gifts is least, I am not a gift giver (or not a good one, at the very least). This also means that rather than valuing gifts myself, I would rather have people do things for me (like the dishes Irfan!).

If you’d like, you can take the love languages test.

There, now you know about love languages, I just saved you a million dollars on relationship therapy. 🙂 Just joking! I love therapy, I think everyone should go to therapy! 🙂

Okay, sorry for the rant, back to the cupcakes! Anyhow, it was Mufee’s birthday and I was to get him six gifts. As gifts is not my thang, I decided (actually Jemila, my sista from anotha motha, suggested) to make cupcakes instead. I also try to eat grain free and had some cocoa powder and so I experimented with flourless chocolate cupcakes with cocoa powder. They.were.darn.tasty. Even the unhealthy eaters liked them.

Makes 6 cupcakes

Ingredients for Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Cocoa Powder

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

generous pinch of salt

2 chia eggs (2 tbsp ground chia combined with 1/4 cup of water for 5-10 minutes) – or you can use 2 eggs if you’re not vegan

1/3 cup maple syrup (you can add 1/2 cup if you like, I don’t like things too sweet but if you are making for kids 1/3 cup maple syrup may not be sweet enough)

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp dairy free milk (I used almond milk)

Directions for Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes with Cocoa Powder

Preheat oven to 350. In a food processor, combine the coconut flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt Slowly add the chia mixture, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and dairy free milk Combine until completely smooth Prep a muffin pan with 6 liners Use a 1/4 cup and scoop mixture into cups Bake for about 25 minutes Let it cool for about an hour Add my vegan chocolate frosting (don’t skip the frosting! It’s so easy and makes it taste so so good!) Enjoy!