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Candy Bar Cupcakes

Candy Bar Cupcakes

My fun weekend plans:

This past Saturday morning, I woke up, packed as much as I could into my little blue car, and drove to my cousin’s house…

22 hours away.

Snickers Candy Bar Cupcakes

I knew I’d be without my baking supplies but wanted to publish at least one Halloween-themed recipe before the holiday this year. Therefore, last Friday afternoon became Halloween in my Texas kitchen.

Can you guess which popular candy bar inspired these cupcakes?

Candy Bar Cupcakes

Candy Bar Cupcakes

(makes 12)

Cupcake Base:

  • 1 cup spelt or all-purpose flour (130g) (Arrowhead Mills gf also works.)
  • 6 tbsp cocoa powder (30g) (not Dutch)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup xylitol or sugar of choice (180g)
  • 1/2 cup mayo-style spread, such as Vegenaise (Or you can use this chocolate cupcake recipe.)(120g)
  • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp water (185g)

Preheat oven to 350 F and place 12 cupcake liners inside a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients. Sift very well. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining three ingredients and whisk until the mayo spread is completely smooth. Pour wet into dry and stir until just combined. Immediately divide the batter among the cupcake liners—it won’t seem like a lot of filling, but these cupcakes rise a lot. Bake 21 minutes, then let sit 15 minutes before removing from the pan. These taste ten times more chocolatey and rich the next day, so bake the cupcakes the day before eating if possible. Store in the refrigerator.

Date Caramel:

  • 120g pitted dates (jam-packed 2/3cup, or about 17 small dates)
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • level 1/4 plus 1/16 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup milk of choice
  • optional, for richer sauce: 2 tsp vegetable or melted coconut oil

Blend the dates in a food processor until they’re completely broken up. (I like SunMaid dates, because they’re much softer.) Add all other ingredients and blend thoroughly until the sauce is completely smooth. Please blend the dates first or it will splatter! I used a smaller food processor for this, so if your food processor is much bigger you can double the recipe for smoother blending. Poke a hole in each cupcake and stuff with 2-3 tsp filling.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

  • 1/2 cup peanut butter or allergy-friendly alternative (110g)
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar or Sugar Free Powdered Sugar (30g)
  • 1/4 cup milk of choice (add 1-2 extra tbsp if using natural peanut butter)

Beat all ingredients together until completely smooth, using hand beaters if you have them. (If you must, you can stir everything together with a fork using maximum effort and patience. A Magic Bullet will also work.) Spread about a tbsp of frosting on each cupcake. You will most likely have leftover date caramel and frosting, but it’s a good idea to make the full recipes for smoothest blending. Top the cupcakes with chopped peanuts if desired.

View Nutrition Facts

peanuts

Question of the Day:

Do you like to drive?

The only time I enjoy driving is on quiet, long and winding roads without a single car in front of me… bonus points if I’m in a convertible. Otherwise, if someone else offers to take the wheel I will happily relinquish the keys. Link of the Day:

image

…..237 Healthy Chocolate Recipes

Today is NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY!

Published on October 28, 2013

Meet Katie

Chocolate Covered Katie is one of the top 25 food websites in America, and Katie has been 
featured on The 
Today Show, CNN, 
Fox, The 
Huffington Post, and 
ABC's 5 O’Clock News. Her favorite food is chocolate, and she believes in eating dessert every single day.

Learn more about Katie

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46 Comments

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  1. becauseHeloves! says

    These look amazing! I JUST made your ultimate chocolate fudge pie, and it is in the fridge as I type!
    I have a problem. There’s a recipe my family uses on Halloween, called Graveyard Gravel. You can find it online if you Google Graveyard Gravel Fudge.
    Could you possibly healthify this for me? It’s such a good recipe….with a ton of chocolate!

  2. Hollie says

    I absolutely hate driving. I just did 2 drives totally 3500+ miles and I could go the rest of my life without driving again ha ha. Glad you made it safely.

  3. Hannah Elizabeth says

    So, Katie, I’ve got to ask…is there a real National Chocolate Day (and some of the other unique celebratory days you mention periodically), or only on CCK is there a National Chocolate Day? 🙂 I’m cool with either one…hey, the more excuse to eat chocolate the better in my book…but you’ve sure made me curious!!

    Here’s to chocolate! 🙂
    Hannah

  4. Emily says

    AHHHH HAPPY NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY!!!!
    Lets celebrate NOW!!
    ps. i cant answer the qotd. not old enough to drive. 🙁
    pps. are these snickers? uh… :/

  5. Amy says

    Quick question: How do you store the leftover caramel?

    Follow-up: How long does the date caramel last once it is stored?

    As for long drives, I don’t mind as long as I have a great playlist. It helps if the traffic moves, of course, and for there not to be loony-bin drivers who weave and/or cut people off. But I have regularly done 600+ mile drives on my own in one day (though I usually need a day or two to recover from them, and don’t think I’d do so hot on a drive that is much longer than that).

    • Unofficial CCK Helper says

      Store in the fridge, covered. It will last a few days or up to a week. That is my experience with date paste in general.

  6. Barbara Kowal says

    Dear Katie I love all of your recipes my family and I have been using all of your recipes in place of sugary fatty not good for youyyy sweets. My son would you please make a cookies and cream ice cream recipe and a chocolate donut recipe. Thanks

  7. Lauren says

    Looks amazing! About the date caramel, does it taste like caramel? Like do people recognize it as a caramel flavor? Thanks!

  8. Makayla says

    Oh Wow these look good… and this recipe definitely screams SNICKERS!! What kind of car do you have? I love blue cars! 🙂

  9. Leslie says

    These look awesome and I plan to make them tomorrow. Just a quick question, do I stuff the cupcakes with caramel before or after they are cooked? Thanks!!!

  10. Kayla says

    Well I got my learner’s license on October 21st so I’ve only been driving for 12 days but I’m not hating it.. Except parking. I hate parking.

  11. Rose Moretz says

    I love just about anything chocolate..these look really delicious! Do you bake with sugar or a sugar alternative??? Just wondering because I didn’t know how it would turn out with a sugar alternative. Since Stevia tends to have a bitter after taste.

    • Maggie says

      I always use coconut palm sugar in all recipes, and I’ve never had an issue. I actually think it’s more delicious than normal sugar. 🙂

  12. Raina says

    Hey Katie, Christmas is around the corner and that means a lot of butter-laden spritz cookies. I was wondering if you could make a healthy spritz cookies recipe? Thanks!

  13. Ellie H. says

    When I made these cupcakes, I crushed up peanuts and sprinkled them on the top, and the cupcakes were TO DIE FOR! Snickers were my favorite candy before I became vegan, so I am so happy I can now enjoy the taste(yay!)- in cupcake form (double yay!)! Thanks for posting!

  14. Janna says

    These look amazing! Might I ask what would happen if I used Dutch cocoa? That is all I have and I don’t want to ruin these!

  15. Sarah says

    Has anyone tried these without the peanut butter frosting, or with a different type of frosting? I want to make something healthy for a coworkers birthday but OF COURSE we have a nut allergy in the office too!

  16. abbie says

    this recipe sounds absolutely delicious! i just have one question : it says in the recipe to use “1/2 cup of mayo-style spread” does this mean a vegan mayonnaise? i’m quite confused as to why mayonnaise would be in any cupcake let alone in a candy cupcake? somebody please answer asap, i’m intrigued to make cupcakes for my friends & am a new vegan! thank you

    • Karen says

      Yes, it means vegan mayonnaise. I know it sounds like a strange thing to put in cupcakes but I believe it is there as an egg substitute. I have made these before though (well the plain chocolate version, but the point is they had mayonnaise) and I promise you can’t taste it at all.

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