P3 Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes!

Cupcakes:
4 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
pinch salt
3 Tbs Xylitol
1 tsp Stevia powder
1 C creamy peanut butter (no sugar added)
3 Tbs vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 C fruit spread (no sugar added)
Berry Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan with paper liners

Whip egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks appear. While the mixer runs add xylitol and Stevia and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. This actually happens very quickly so don't take too much time added sweeteners. I transferred my beaten egg whites to another bowl and quickly cleaned my mixing bowl for the next step.

In a clean bowl, using the mixer, beat the egg yolks with the peanut butter, oil and vanilla until very smooth. Add the ground almonds and baking soda, mix well. Remove bowl from mixer and fold egg white mixture into peanut butter mixture until combined. Batter should no longer be streaky.

Put about 2 Tbs of batter in the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Add 1 tsp fruit spread on top of the batter and top this with about 1-2 Tbs remaining batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cupcakes have risen, are golden brown and springy to the touch.

Cool completely before frosting.

Berry Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
3/4 C (1 and 1/2 stick or 12 Tbs) unsalted butter at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C xylitol
3 heaping Tbs fruit preserves from above

In spice/coffee grinder, grind the xylitol until powdered (if your xylitol comes granulated). In the bowl of your mixer blend together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until creamy. On slow speed add powdered xylitol a small amount at a time until combined. Add the fruit spread and mix until combined.

Generously frost cooled cupcakes.

Or, if you really want to have some fun, use a piping tip and fill the cavity in the cupcake that was created by the fruit spread with the frosting. This makes a more portable treat with a surprise, creamy filling. Think P,B & J ding dongs. :)

Enjoy,
Amy

Life in P4

Hello Friends,

I apologize for my lack of posts. I have been so terribly busy. My conference was fabulous, but not so great for the end of P3. Let's just say I ended P3 about a week early. Sigh. 2 days after my return from the conference I took my 2 year old camping with some dear friends of ours. And immediately upon our return from camping I was entrenched for 3 days in my daughters dress rehearsals and recital (I always work as a backstage manager). Yikes.

Okay, so now I am totally in P4 or maintainence and I am up a bit (total of 6 lbs from LIW). This probably happened in all the chaos over the last few weeks. I am trying to correct it now by making good choices. Here is what I would eat in an ideal food choice day:

Breakfast: green smoothie (2 green veggie servings and 1 fruit)
lean protein (either my homemade turkey sausages or 1-2 hard boiled eggs)
Snack 1: Ultra Meal shake (same as I was doing on P2)
Lunch: I try to have a lean protein and at least 2 veggie servings. A lot of times
this is left overs from dinner the night before. Occasionally I will have a
starch here
Snack 2: lots of veggies and usually a dip made with legumes
Dinner: lean protein, lots of veggies and a little starch, milk (if I don't have a
latte during the day)
Snack 3: nuts and fruit


Come back soon for a yummy P3 recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes!

Amy