Sugar/Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I have a friend that recently found out she could no longer eat gluten. When I began talking to her about this change I realized how much I take gluten foods for granted in my diet. I decided to try my hand at gluten baking and experimenting. This is one of the recipes that I enjoyed and came up with. I also made it sugar free as well in my effort to use less refined sugar.

One other fun thing about this recipe is that you can change the presentation of your desserts to make them look more exciting and enjoyable. In this recipe I decided to use a little cupcake pan because it gave them more personality and made them unique. You can just make them normally but its fun to get creative with your cooking. So even if you don't use this recipe maybe try using a cupcake pan next time you decide to make cookies, cupcakes, brownies, or whatever your heart desires:) 

I just used a blender to grind my oats down into flour. 

This is the melted butter, peanut butter, mashed banana, and honey creamed together. 

All ingredients without sour cream/yogurt

With greek yogurt (you can see it is a little more moist) 

Before baking:) 

After baked:) 

Chocolate frosting that I used to frost the cupcakes.

Ingredients: 

1 mashed banana

1/4 cup honey (if you want low sugar add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar) 

2 eggs 

*optional (some people don't like the flavor but it will make them a little more moist) 5-6 oz greek yogurt (vanilla or plain) (could also use sour cream) 

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

1 t vanilla 

1 cup ground oats

1 cup brown rice flour (if you don't need to cook gluten free use normal flour)

1 t baking powder 

1/2 t baking soda 

1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (depends on whether you use salted peanut butter)

Directions: 

1. mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl 

2. melt butter and then mix in peanut butter, honey, banana, yogurt, vanilla, and eggs in that order:) 

3. mix dry and wet ingredients together

4. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes

Optional Chocolate Frosting: (you could also use your own favorite chocolate frosting recipe this is just an easy one I use when I run out of coco powder)
1/4 cup of butter melted with 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and a few Tablespoons of milk. Add 1- 1&1/2 cups powdered sugar. (it depends on the consistency you desire)  

Other Super Yummy options include:
Making them into bars by adding chocolate chips and 2/3 cup brown and 1/2 cup white sugar. You will have to cook them for 20-25 minutes depending on whether you use a 9X13 or 8X8. When I made them I made a dozen or so mini cupcakes and then added the chocolate chips and made the rest into bars. When I made them into bars I frosted them about 3/4 of the way through and let them finish cooking with the frosting on top but I also turned off the oven and let them stay in a little longer while the oven cooled down. This made them super chocolatey and almost like a half brownie half peanut butter blondie. I really like this option if you are okay with using sugar.....:) 

You can see how baking the frosting on a low heat into the bar makes it look almost like a brownie but the bottom is really a peanut butter gooey goodness:) This was my favorite way to enjoy the bars but it does involve sugar:)