The Best Healthy Cupcakes We've Ever Seen!

Vegan Chocolate Chai cupcakesYou'll lick the bowl clean after whipping up any of these healthy cupcakes! We collected our favorite guilt-free recipes, which cleverly use more nourishing options to replace the fattening elements in traditional cupcakes. But don't be fooled by ingredients such as vitamin-loaded veggies and protein-rich grains-each treat still explodes with delectably sweet flavor.

1. Vegan Chocolate Chai Tea Cupcakes (pictured to the left): Even non-vegans will appreciate this scrumptious dessert. A combination of almond milk, apple cider vinegar, cocoa powder, and more produces a fluffy chocolate cupcake, while chai tea lends an aromatic flavor to the buttercream frosting. Non-vegans can replace the Earth Balance with regular butter.

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1 c. almond milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/3 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

For the frosting:
1/2 c. Earth Balance vegan margarine (or butter)
3-4 c. powdered sugar
2 chai tea bags
2 tbsp. boiling water
2 tbsp. almond milk
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the vinegar with the almond milk and let sit for five minutes. Whisk together the almond milk/vinegar, oil, sugar and vanilla. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add wet to dry and mix until combined. Pour batter into greased cupcake molds and bake for 25 minutes, or until springy. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
Beat the Earth Balance until soft. Brew the tea in the two tablespoons of boiling water and let sit for ten minutes to steep. Then, add the almond milk. Add that mixture, plus the powdered sugar and cinnamon to the earth balance and continue to beat for 10 minutes until very light and fluffy. Frost cupcakes.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Nutritional information:
Serving size: 1 cupcake
Calorie count (including frosting): 380 calories

Recipe provided by Koko's Kitchen

2. Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes (pictured below): Keep it simple with commonplace ingredients found in any pantry. With an equal ratio of egg whites, gluten-free flour, sugar, and butter, measuring ingredients is quick and easy. This blogger used the frosting recipe found here to top each tasty treat.

Ingredients:
6 oz./170 g. egg whites at room temperature
1/2 c. whole milk at room temperature, divided
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
6 oz./170 g. gluten-free flour
6 oz./170 g. organic sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
6 oz./170 g. organic butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or line muffin pans with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites with 1/4 c. of milk and the vanilla. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt together on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter cubes and remaining 1/4 c. of milk. Mix on low speed until the butter has been incorporated. Increase to medium speed and beat for 1-2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the egg mixture in 3 separate batches; beat on medium speed for 20-30 seconds after each addition. Pour or scoop batter into cupcake liners and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool on racks completely before frosting the cupcakes.

Makes about 16 cupcakes.

Nutritional information:
Serving size: 1 cupcake
Calorie count: 168 calories (without frosting)

Recipe provided by Healthy Green Kitchen

Gluten-free vanilla cupcakes

3. Clean Eating Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin-Chocolate Frosting (pictured below): Your daily calorie intake won't suffer if you indulge in one of these pumpkin muffins, which clock in at 179 calories each. Topped with a generous spread of chocolate pumpkin frosting, these cupcakes make a satisfying snack or dessert.

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
1 c. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix, just pure pumpkin)
1/2 c. almond milk
2 egg whites
1/2 c. safflower oil (or any light-flavored oil)
1/2 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

For the frosting:

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees . Line your cupcake tins with cupcake papers or grease the tin itself. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your pumpkin, almond milk, egg whites, safflower oil, honey and vanilla extract. In a second mixing bowl, whisk together your flour , salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Whisk the flour mixture into the liquid mixture and blend well. If your batter is too thick, add a little extra almond milk (about 1/4 c. at a time until you reach a thick, yet runny consistency). Pour into tins, and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.


For the frosting:

Place all ingredients in a small mixing bowl, and whisk until well blended. Remove cupcakes from oven, allow to cool and spread frosting over the tops.

Makes about 16 cupcakes.

Nutritional information:
Serving size: 1 cupcake
Calorie count: 179 calories

Recipe provided by The Gracious Pantry

clean eating chocolate pumpkin cupcakes