Very Vanilla Valentine Cupcakes

Valentine's Day is almost here. I made a few treats today with a new little silicone mold I found at Walmart. This is so fun. I can bake in it or use it for coconut oil candies. Jello too, ice cubes...those too. Today I baked these adorable cupcakes. How fun? You start by just baking some red velvet cupcake hearts in the new mold. Easy. Then you place the little heart in the batter and bake the regular size cupcake. No, the heart does not burn. It is so easy I made two batches. One almond meal based (in the photos) and one coconut flour based. You can use this method with any cupcake recipe you like.

The cupcake flavors are pretty simple. I tried to make them interesting with browned butter, but that flavor was lost. The red velvet flavoring does not come out too strong. On a day when you probably have lots of other goodies, these will do just fine. I think if I make another batch, I will add some sugarfree chocolate chips to make the flavor more interesting. It is late on a schoolnight, and I wanted to be able to share these before the big day, so no new batch. If you have a favorite cupcake recipe, by all means use that. This method would work well with chocolate and vanilla as the contrasting flavors, so if you don't have the red velvet emulsion, don't think it is critical.

Very Vanilla Valentine Cupcakes, Coconut Flour

3 eggs
2 tbsp melted butter (browned if you like)
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp EZ Sweetz Stevia with Monkfruit (or any sweetener equal to 1/2 cup sugar)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp LorAnn Red Velvet Emulsion (or red food coloring)

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, butter, cream, vanilla and sweetener. Whisk well. Stir in coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. Let the batter rest 5 minutes and stir again. Remove 1/4 cup of the batter to a small bowl. Stir in the red velvet emulsion.

Fill the cavities of the heart shaped mold with the red batter. Bake 5 -6 minutes at 350 or until just set. Remove and let cool. Fill standard muffin cups with the vanilla batter. Place a cooked heart in the center of the batter. Push down a bit so the heart sinks into the batter somewhat. Bake until the tops turn golden. (I baked mine in my Babycakes machine and got 8 muffins. The size is somewhat smaller than a standard muffin, but larger than a mini muffin. Be sure to watch your batch according to the size and cooking method.)

I will run the nutritional stats tomorrow, and try to get the almond meal recipe posted as well. In the meantime, I would guess these muffins are 3-4 net carbs each. If I don't head to bed soon, tomorrow...OK later today... will suffer. Leading a bunch of teenagers requires one to be alert and ready for anything!

So yes, even if it is in the middle of the night, run to Walmart now and get this mold! I think it was under $2.

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