Made with pumpkin seed meal, these gluten free chocolate pumpkin seed cupcakes with ganache are worth creating something to celebrate.

Happy National Cupcake Day!

Kidding! I just wanted an excuse to share these rich, chocolatey, gluten free cupcakes with you all. But then I realized you never need an excuse to do that!

Plus, National Cupcake Day is December 15th. Mark your calendars now :)

I had a little happy moment while making these. I woke up, had a great run followed by (well, a shower first) an initial client meeting which went incredibly well. After our meeting, I checked my inbox to find a super sweet email from an old client sharing his progress and another email booking a corporate event. After responding, I went to the kitchen, turned on Parts Unknown, and pulled out the ingredients to spend the rest of my morning making these cupcakes.

Like a ton of bricks (or a pound of dark chocolate), it hit me. Life is pretty good :)

Last week, I had a conversation with this guy (not a client) who was, well, frankly a little cray cray. He made a lot of comments that were more than a little off the wall, but he did say something that when I thought about it later, was actually quite profound. He said "I believe if you can envision it, you can manifest it."

For years, I was stuck in a job that I liked, but it was difficult to help people reach their true potential (or reach my professional potential) because of the bureaucracy of the system. I dreamt of starting a private practice, but I didn't identify as someone with the skills to run a business. Because that was my identity, I stayed stuck.

Even after making the crazy leap into starting my private practice, I still held on to that identity. When I struggled, it was proof of my identity (a failure, supposedly), not the normal trials and tribulations that come with doing something new for the first time.

Then a funny thing happened. I started to change my perspective and view myself as success. The more I viewed myself as a success, the more success came my way. I envisioned it, therefore I manifested it.

I see the same thing with many of my clients. Those who struggle the most to change their identity also struggle the most to change their behaviors. If you think of yourself as someone who doesn’t have any control around food, why wouldn't you give in to an emotional craving or order pizza instead of cooking dinner? On the other hand, those who are able to imagine themselves as the person they want to be, or even identify as a work in progress, are those ones who constantly surprise themselves by achieving new goals.

Wow, so that was a major tangent from pretend cupcake day! Let's take this full circle. Since now you will start viewing yourself as a healthy and successful person, you should probably go ahead and make these cupcakes to celebrate!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Seed Cupcakes With Chocolate Ganache

Makes 12

Adapted from The Homemade Flour Cookbook.

Ingredients

Cupcake:

2 cups pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
4 large eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup walnut oil, melted coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil

Ganache:

2 tablespoons coconut milk or coconut cream
1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Place pumpkin seeds in a food processor. Blend into a meal/flour, about 4-6 minutes. Be careful not to overblend or it will form a butter.
Scrape pumpkin seed meal into a large bowl. Whisk in cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, and oil. Mix wet ingredients into dry.
Divide batter evenly between the wells, filling about 2/3s of the way full. Place in the oven and bake 16-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aisde to a wire rack to cool.
While cupcakes are cooling, mix chocolate and coconut milk/cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat 30 seconds, stir, then in 10 second intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth.
When cupcakes are cool, spoon ganache over the top. Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to eat.

Try these other gluten free baked goods:

Gluten Free Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Cupcakes

Gluten Free Pumpkin Seed Cupcakes With Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

Instructions