Fearne Cotton's healthy cupcakes recipe

Healthy cupcakes made with peanut butter, coconut palm sugar, fresh raspberries, chia seeds, and plenty of honey. 

These healthy cupcakes by Fearne Cotton are easy to make and taste delicious too. Flavour the sponge and icing with peanut butter. Make the sweet raspberry jam using just three ingredients; raspberries, honey, and chia seeds. The peanut and raspberry jam pair perfectly together.

Ingredients

• 60g unsalted butter or coconut oil
• 120g coconut palm sugar
• 60g smooth peanut butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 120g white spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk (almond, rice or dairy)

For the raspberry chia jam:

• 200g raspberries, plus extra to serve
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2½ tbsp

For the icing:

• 250g cream cheese, or dairy-free alternative
• 80g smooth peanut butter
• 40g honey

Method

1. To make this Fearne Cotton recipe preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas mark 4 and line a cupcake tin with 10 paper cases.
2. To make the jam, add the raspberries and honey to a pan and set over a medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, mashing the raspberries to release their liquid. Stir in the chia seeds and continue to simmer for 15 minutes until thick and viscous. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl cream together the butter or coconut oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter and eggs, then fold in the flour, baking powder and milk. Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake for 16-20 minutes until risen and golden. A skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake should come out clean.
4. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely (otherwise the icing will melt).
5. To make the icing, combine the cream cheese, peanut butter and honey until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut out a small thumb-size hole from the centre of each one.
6. Fill each hole with a teaspoon of the raspberry chia jam. Keep any remaining jam in a jar in the fridge. Top each cupcake with a tablespoonful of the icing, then position a raspberry on top of each one.

Top tips for making healthy cupcakes

Fearne Cotton says: ‘Peanut butter and jam go together like duvets and books. Total soul-satisfying perfection. I eat a lot of nut butter as I adore the creaminess and flavour and am always happy to boost up my daily protein with it too, so getting my fave ingredient into a bake was a must for this book.

The jam is a little hidden secret inside that will be delightfully discovered when bitten in to and the creamy topping just makes these little dreamboats even more decadent. Serve up when your mates or family drop over for tea or give to your little ones as a cheeky treat.’

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