Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Lemon Cream Cheese Coconut Flour Cupcakes


Now that's a mouthful! I've recently purchased some coconut flour to use in a recipe from Trim Healthy Mama. It goes a long way! I needed to find another recipe to try to use up some of the flour before it goes bad. When I searched for recipes using coconut flour most came back still using wheat or using half a dozen eggs for 9 muffins!
I'm not usually one to go out of my comfort zone of following a recipe when it comes to baking. A recipe is not needed when I make anything else and it drives my husband insane! But baking must be by the recipe! 
I decided to make my own recipe with these cupcakes and it worked! I've made them 3 times now and each time everyone has loved them! 
I'm not completely wheat free. I'm not gluten free. I try to be as sugar free as I can, but that has only been in the last few months. This recipe is however wheat free, gluten free and sugar free!


Lemon Cream Cheese Coconut Flour Cupcakes

4 oz cream cheese room temperature
3 tbs butter room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs of Truvia (or 1 cup of sugar if you don't use Truvia)
juice and zest of one lemon
3/4 cup of milk (can use almond milk) add more if needed
3 eggs
dash of salt
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

In a bowl combine the cream cheese and butter with truvia. Add in the lemon juice and zest. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low until just blended. 
In a separate bowl combine coconut flour, baking powder and salt. 
Add flour mixture alternating with milk, to the cream cheese and egg mixture. Blend well. The batter will be much drier than normal cake batter but should be moist and sticky. You will have to spoon it, it will be too dry to pour. 
Preheat oven to 350*. Line 12 muffin tins with well greased liners or use silicone muffin cups. Fill 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes. 

This recipe easily doubles! 

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

2 cups of ground Truvia for baking (I ground mine in a coffee grinder)
1 package of cream cheese
zest of a lemon

I mixed all of this together in a mixer until well combined. If it is too thick you may add milk by tablespoons until you get the right consistency for spreading. 
Once the cupcakes have cooled well, ice with a generous amount of icing. 

The cupcakes should be refrigerated and can be frozen. The cupcakes tend to be a bit crumblier than normal cupcakes and will stick to the liners if not greased well. 

If you like the coconut taste and want to omit the lemon you can use a tsp of vanilla and make up the rest of the liquid with milk.



Enjoy! Let me know what you think! 



Monday, April 21, 2014

Bohemian Babydoll Dress and Top Pattern Testing



This past week I was lucky enough to do a little pattern testing for Heidi at Elegance and Elephants for her new pattern the Bohemian Babydoll Dress and Top! Seriously it is adorable! 

I made the top version for Caraline in size 18mths. I will be making Lillie one this week since she was begging me the whole time to make her something! (I was also in the process of finishing up Easter dresses that I will share later, so she was getting something!)

I love that it doesn't have any closures! No button holes! No zippers!!!! It does have lots of ironing, but I love ironing so that doesn't bother me! 

It has adorable little flutter sleeves with the option of making it sleeveless. 

It also has a fully lined bodice and hides all seam allowances for a very professional finished look. 

I love the little hem band around the bottom! I made it from the same fabric as the underside of the flutter sleeve and the bodice lining. The fullness of the skirt is great for those little cloth diaper babies with big butts! Lots of room and not too tight across that little bum :) 

I used some seersucker that I purchased from Joanns over a year ago. It took 2 hours to sew together which wasn't bad for a first time pattern. 
The pattern is now available in a pdf download here in size 6mths-9years. Through April 25th use the code BABYDOLL for a $2 discount. 

Thank you so much Heidi for letting me test this adorable pattern!!!