Happy Monday Friends,

Even if you aren't having the best Monday, hopefully this recipe will give you something to smile about.  Is it possible for chocolate, icing, cupcake, and healthy to be in the same sentence? Why yes! As promised, I wanted to share with you a recipe that I found on Pinterest and adapted to my own liking. Which brings me to my next revelation, how did I survive before Pinterest?  How did I cook, craft, breathe???  More on this later...

Since our whole foods journey began, I craved desserts that I could eat *mostly* guilt free. I also wanted to stay away from processed box mixes, shortening, and for the most part, anything destructive to our bodies. This vegan (not made with any animal products or bi-products) dessert was a test run on a cupcake that used to frequent my diet, the Hostess Chocolate cupcake with its signature curly-q swirl on top (queue reminiscent late night binge memories now). No more lists of words I can't pronounce going in my belly, I want real food!  

Here are the mini-cupcakes before the top icing was applied:

I decided to make a small batch of these in case they were awful so there was not much food going to waste, but I later wished I had made a double batch;)  I was even brave enough to take these to a friend's house as an after-dinner treat.  Even after joking about our almost-vegan lifestyle, they indulged themselves with these little beauties as well and gave them a thumbs-up.  D and the girls were in love and ate them up as well.  Here is the finished product ready to be tested:

There were three separate mixtures to create to make this cupcake happen, and I wasn't aware you could turn cashews into "icing", but it is true and I want to scream it to the world!  Here's the recipe.  I hope you give it a try and go outside your comfort zone.  You won't be sorry!  

Vegan Chocolate "Raw" Cupcakes with Vanilla Creme Filling

Cupcakes:
1 cup quick oats
1 cup dates
2 tablespoons cacao powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbsp organic peanut butter (if nut allergy omit and use more water)
1-2 Tbsp almond milk or water (to make mixture bind)

Vanilla cream filling:
1 cup cashews 
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup water
1-2 tablespoons agave or coconut nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Chocolate frosting:
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon cacao powder
1 tablespoon agave or coconut nectar

Cupcakes: pulse the oats in a food processor until they become flour-like. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it all sticks together. Press into mini cupcake tins and press fingerprint in each one.  Place in freezer until done with vanilla filling.

Vanilla Filling: Add all ingredients to blender on "ice cream" setting and blend. Spoon the creamy filling into each cupcake to fill the indentations.  Place cupcakes back in freezer.

Chocolate Frosting: In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients until smooth. Let it re-solidify in room temperature so that you have a frosting consistency (I stuck mine in the fridge for 2 minutes to speed this process up). Frost the top of the cupcakes and then using a piping bag (or a ziplock with a hole cut in the corner) to decorate the tops of your cupcakes with the vanilla cream. Eat right away or within 1-2 weeks. You will probably eat right away!

So what are you waiting for?  Don't be afraid of dates.  They are delicious and worth a try.  Remember to take the pits out before processing.  They have a peanut buttery and sweet consistency. Happy clean eating!