Baking Fix

I've been restricting my diet lately, in an attempt to improve my health. This includes cutting back on processed sugar and flour, which means I've essentially had to stop baking altogether. But I learned very quickly that it's not necessarily about eating desserts - I really enjoy baking as a way to unwind... I just can't have it in the house afterward, for fear that I'll gobble it all up. Luckily, I've got lots of hungry friends who are MORE than willing to help me with that little conundrum!

This week I made chocolate-chocolate cupcakes. After a quick google search I found a great recipe that was right about my level in terms of difficulty. The cupcakes are plain chocolate. The icing is chocolate ganache, whipped up for frosting, with some optional liquor. I used amaretto.

I wanted to try and pipe the icing, but it was too thick, and it was getting late at night, so I opted to just frost the cupcakes normally, rather than wait for the icing to chill, then whip it up again. But in the end everything turned out pretty and delicious.

Butter/sugar/eggs.

Silly faces.

Dry ingredients.

Creamy and delish.

Made a few regular-sized ones...

And a few minis!

Baker's chocolate for the ganache.

Yummmmm.

They came out PERFECT.

The big ones overflowed slightly... 

I opted to decorate with miniature chocolate chips. 

I took the minis to lab for my labmates.

Brandon requested a special one just for him.

And the rest were for us to keep. 

I'm gonna try to find a nice balance where I can bake once in a while, in small batches, without totally destroying my diet. It's tough, I've got such a sweet tooth...