Low-Carb Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

This recipe is one that I adapted from a mediocre low-carb brownie recipe and a really good low-carb muffin recipe. These cupcakes are so good that they don't need any frosting, but for the occasional extra-special treat our family loves these with a scoop of chocolate low-carb ice cream, Carb Smart and Edy's No Sugar Added are decent choices, but don't overdo it.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 4 large eggs
• 4 ounces baking chocolate (unsweetened)
  
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sucralose (Splenda)
• 1/2 cups erythritol
• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1 1/4 baking powder
• 1 1/4 baking soda

Directions:

1. Put the butter and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.
2. Remove and stir.
3. Continue to heat until chocolate is completely melted, stir every thirty seconds.
4. Add sucralose and erythritol to the chocolate and stir to combine.
5. Add cream, eggs, and pumpkin to the chocolate mixture and stir until blended.
6. In a separate bowl, combine almond flour, baking powder, baking soda. Stir until blended.
7. Combine the chocolate mixture and the almond flour mixture and stir until completely blended.
8. Spray a 12-cup muffin with cooking spray.
9. Coat muffin cups with almond flour.
10. Fill all the muffin cups evenly.
11. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Notes:

1. You can substitute some or all of the sucralose for erythritol, but I wouldn't subsitute any of the sucralose with erythritol.
2. Look for erythritol in th natural foods section of your grocery store or look for it at a natural foods store near you. For you locals, Shaw's in Dover, NH has it in the Natural Foods section and The Herbal Path Natural Pharmacy in Dover, has it as well.
3. Good almond flour is a bit harder to find. Bob's Red Mill makes some, but I find it too coarse. Making your own is easy, I'll post that recipe as well, or you can buy it at Trader Joe's. I find the brand they sell to be as good as the stuff I make a home with no waste. For you locals, there's I think the closest Trader Joe's is in Peabody, MA.
4. If you don't want to use almond flour to coat your pan, I recommend, in order, coconut flour, soy flour, whole grain pastry flour, white flour. If you use some kind of wheat flour, be aware that you'll add a few carbs and the recipe will no longer be gluten-free.
   

Cheers,
Alex


PS. Don't fear the fat!

UPDATE 10/29/2008: I have decided that the only way to go with this recipe is to increase the chocolate to 6 ounces of baking chocolate, increase the cream to 1/3 cup, and increase the sucralose to 2 cups. I experimented with this enhancement to the recipe and my wife liked it a lot. She liked them so much that the next time we had a batch, she said "oh...you didn't add the extra chocolate this time...?" I realized she was right and promised to make only the super chocolatey recipe from now on.