Inspiration strikes at the oddest of times.
Last Friday I dragged my derriere out of bed at an ungodly hour to frost some incredible cupcakes for the roommate’s birthday.
Four words: Chocolate-chip cookie dough stuffing (okay, maybe five).
I couldn’t help but notice how the creamy cookie dough frosting resembled the lemon coriander hummus I’d made earlier that week. I usually use a food processor, but decided to try it in my blender for a change (which for the record is how all the women in my family/most arab chefs make hummus), which resulted in a super smooth consistency.
And then it hit me – savoury cupcakes with hummus frosting.
Inspired by the coriander hummus, I went for Indian flavours and incorporated a bunch of spices and chickpea flour. The result?
Hands down the best baked creation ever to leave my kitchen. Oh and have I mentioned it’s entirely gluten free?
Chickpea-Almond Savoury Cupcakes
Makes 6 “cupcakes”
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp almond flour*
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp chickpea flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp sea salt and black pepper (or more/less to taste)
- pinch of chili powder (optional)
- 1 small or 1/2 large red onion
- 1 large clove garlic
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley
- 1 heaping cup spinach
- 1/2 tsp coconut oil
- 1/2 cup water
- Pre-heat your oven to 375 F/190 C and lightly grease a muffin tin using a dab of coconut oil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda and mix through.
- In a food processor chop the onions, garlic, spinach and parsley by pulsing for a few minutes until everything is roughly chopped. Alternatively, chop the spinach and parsley into fine strips, and roughly chop the onion and garlic by hand.
- Add the spinach and onion mixture to the flours, then stir in water to combine. Add the coconut oil and mix thoroughly.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and divide evenly. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are sufficiently golden brown and begin to split.
- Try not to eat one straight away even if they smell insane – you will burn your tongue.
- Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before “frosting” and serve warm.
For the hummus “frosting” I followed this and added 1 tsp of lemon zest.
Pile high or spread on smooth then garnish with some coriander leaves or a few delicate slices of mango.
I couldn’t help it – I just had to dig. in I was hesitant at first but knew I had struck gold within about 5 minutes of them being in the oven – the curry flavour and spices are perfectly complimented by the coconut oil and the chopped veg almost melts into the wonderfully moist texture.
Are you noting the insane crumb factor? This is without a doubt the most successful gluten-free baked good I’ve ever made. Almond meal and chickpea flour make a great pairing, no one will even miss the flour here.
I hesitate to refer to them as cupcakes because they’re far more muffin like in consistency, but are much smaller in size. Plus given that they were initially inspired by frosting, “cupcakes” seemed apt .
The obvious question would be how to serve these – I had two alongside a big green salad for lunch which made for a very satisfying meal, but they would be perfect as an appetiser (alongside some lemon chutney and vegan raita), or even great canapes or finger food for a buffet. My only cautionary note is that they are pretty dense and filling so I would make them in a mini cupcake tray instead.
However you have them, you won’t be sorry – aside from being totally delicious and gluten free, they’re also loaded with protein from the chickpea and almond flour, Iron from the spinach and hummus complete with a moderate dose of healthy fats.
Angela says
I have to try these.
Meena says
Is it possible to replace almond flour with wheat flour?
Nada says
It might be but I have never tried so I can’t say for sure!