Leprechaun Cupcakes (no artificial food dye)

(4 Years)

Look how adorable these mini cupcakes are!  Look at all of that green.  Beautiful green, with no artificial food dye!  

This is an an adapted recipe, from the recipe that Catherine's adapted over at Weelicious.   I promise, you can not taste the spinach at all.  This is a really quick and easy recipe to put together, perfect for a last minute snack or as part of a delicious breakfast.  Throw the first six ingredients into the food processor, whisk the remaining dry ingredients.  That's really all there is to it.  It takes about five minutes to prepare the batter and only 10-12 minutes to bake.  In less than 20 minutes, you can enjoy delicious cupcakes with your little ones and surprise them that a leprechaun left cupcakes for them (maybe as a consolation prize for not catching him - see our leprechaun trap post here).

 Have you ever seen a kid so excited to eat spinach?

Leprechaun Mini Cupcakes 
Makes 24 Mini Cupcakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups baby spinach, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt (or 2 tsp coconut or canola oil)
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour*
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Kosher salt

*if you do not have white whole wheat flour, you can substitute either: whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (the latter two will bake into a lighter cupcake).  I haven't tried it with almond flour yet.

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a mini muffin tin.
2.  Place the first six ingredients in a blender or a food processor and puree until smooth.
3.  In a large bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients.  Pour the wet spinach mixture on top of the dry.
4.  Mix until just combined (try not to over mix it will make the muffins tough), the batter will be thick. 
5.  Scoop the batter into the prepared tin.  Filling each cup.
6.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The batter will be very thick.  I used a cookie scooper to quickly portion the cupcakes out.

Look!  Even Grandpa ate the cupcakes!  He laughed, while asking, "why what's in these?"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!